100/1 shot takes honors in G3

There’s no disputing that 2022 has been a breakthrough year for New South Wales harness racing trainer-driver Nathan Turnbull – and a 100/1 feature win at Bathurst last week was a bit of icing on the cake!

Turnbull has been focused on building his own stable numbers and success over the past 12 months but scored the upset win driving for his dad Steve on Oliveira (Tintin In America) in the Group 3 NSW Breeders Challenge (Western Region) for 2yo fillies.

“It was a bit of a nice surprise. I did think that the two favorites probably had a bit on her, but she’d run second in her heat and probably should have won and she’s always thereabouts.  It was understandable that she wasn’t really expected to trouble the other two, but I did think her $101 was probably a bit disrespectful!” Turnbull said.

“With the favorites drawn inside her (in barriers one and two) I didn’t have to use her out of the gate to land in a nice spot and she was a lot sharper at the finish than when she’s been leading,” he said.

“It was fantastic to get a nice race for dad, and also for the Sloane family who have been loyal owners for dad. They had a good one a few years back, Conviction (For A Reason) (who won 22 races including the 2016 Gr 1 2yo Breeders Challenge Final) and they have had a few nice ones since – Oliveira is looking like she’s putting her hand up to be their next better one.”

Turnbull said 2022 had been a gratifying year for he and his wife Carly.  They have taken the plunge with pushing ahead on developing the size and quality of their own stable and were joined by their 15-year-old son Jett, who is taking on the sport full time.

“Jett left school this year and has signed up to a harness racing traineeship.  He is pretty excited to be doing his trial drives and hopefully he will have his license by July and be able to start race driving,” Turnbull said.

Jett is among a fourth generation of the Turnbull family to devote themselves to harness racing – and is another face on the busy family track at The Lagoon, south of Bathurst.

“We all use the same track – dad, us, my sister Amanda and my brother Josh. It’s a 600-metre track and when all the jogging machines are out, sometimes there can be 40 or so horses out there at the one time,” Turnbull said.

“A lot of days there are 100 horses worked on that one little track.  But it’s a pretty good recipe we’ve got going – if they can get around our track at full speed, they’ll pretty much handle any track.”

The Turnbull stable has grown its numbers to around 25 this season, more than doubling their success rate along the way.  Turnbull has recorded more than 100 wins in a season as both a trainer and driver for the first time and his victories have included a first Group One last month with Better Be The Best (Shoobees Place) in the NSW Breeders Challenge 2yo Colts and Geldings Blue Series Final.

“We’ve got new owners and some of the owners who have been with us for a long time have got some new horses into the stable – it’s been an amazing year all round,” Turnbull said.

“We’re pretty central, but it’s a bit of a trek to get to places like Young, Wagga Wagga and Canberra, but we go to those tracks for the horses that are suited there.”

“We do plenty of travelling, but that’s what we need to do – we all wish we had Bathurst horses and we could race 15 minutes up the road, but you need to place the horses where they’re competitive.

“It’s a fine line with keeping growing but being able to manage it all ourselves.  It’s hard work and it’s plenty of travelling but I wouldn’t swap it for the world.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink