Touch Me Not

What makes Touch Me Not genuinely interesting is the speed of his development over fences. Elliott admitted he could not believe how naturally the horse took to jumping, and that instinct paid off quickly: Touch Me Not won a Grade 2 at Punchestown in November 2024, a result that bumped him straight into the top tier of racing. The problem, as Elliott acknowledges, is that winning a Grade 2 at pace brought a rating that makes him hard to place. Spend a season running against the very best and a horse either rises to that level or finds life difficult — and in top-class races, Touch Me Not has yet to win, losing all three attempts at that level. He has not won at all in his last six races, with his Punchestown success now 17 months in the past.

His partnership with Jack Kennedy tells a similar story: one win from seven races together, a rate of roughly 1 in 7, which is modest but understandable given the company he has been keeping. Jockey Jordan Gainford described a run at Sandown where a single mistake at the sixth fence rattled Touch Me Not's confidence and effectively ended his chance — the kind of moment that shows how fine the margins are at this level. Gainford was still encouraged, noting the horse is young and still learning, and that there are more big days ahead.

Elliott's plan is to bring Touch Me Not back in the Fortria Chase at the Navan racing festival, a step down from the very highest grade and a chance to rebuild some momentum. The trainer's own assessment — that this horse "came a long way in six months" after arriving from the point-to-point field having fallen on his debut there — is a reminder of how much ground has already been covered. The question now is whether Touch Me Not, still active and raced as recently as yesterday, can find his way back to the form that turned heads so sharply just over a year ago.