Teen continues a famous legacy with maiden win

Teenage reinswoman Ella Turnbull became the latest member of Bathurst’s famous Turnbull harness racing dynasty to make her mark, notching her first win at Eugowra on Monday – and then backing it up with another at Bathurst just two days later.

Ella, 16, had been licensed for only two weeks and was having just her ninth race drive when she piloted $34 rank outsider Kadar (Roll With Joe) to victory for her trainer dad Josh Turnbull and owner mum Jessica.

“It was a massive shock – I wasn’t expecting him to win at all,” Ella said.

“It was super exciting – I had all my friends and family there supporting me and I could hear them all shouting. Dad was on the fence cheering and when I watched the replay I could see him up the straight!”

Two days later, Ella ticked off another milestone with her first home-track win at Bathurst, steering Better Shush (Betterthancheddar), again trained by Josh, and again at long odds of $19.

“I had a bit of confidence in him – he’d been trialling pretty well for me and I was fortunate to be able to keep the drive at the races,” she said.

“I thought we were a pretty good chance, depending on how the race turned out.”

Despite being born into one of harness racing’s most famous families — her great grandfather AD is a legend in the sport, and her grandfather Steve and aunt Amanda among the sport’s elite – Ella said a career in racing wasn’t always on her radar.

“It definitely wasn’t always something that I wanted to do, but Dad kept pushing me to keep my options open,” she said.

“I could have got my trial licence a year or so earlier, but I waited a bit – and I was the same when I started doing mini trots when I was a kid, I was a late-starter on both counts!”

Ella’s first trackwork drive came at about age 10, but it wasn’t until she left school last year to work full-time with her dad that her passion for driving really took hold.

“Once I started trial driving that was it! I just loved it!”

Ella is the eldest of four children, with younger siblings Ava (12), Lyla (8) and Cruz (6) all keen mini-trotters – and there’s no doubt that Josh is ecstatic to have Ella at home in the family business.

The son of Steve and Jenny, Josh is a quietly successful trainer in his own right.

“Dad has about 20 racehorses, but mostly Mum and Dad own those – the business is really around preparing yearlings for the sales and doing a lot of breaking in,” Ella said.

“Dad does the first few weeks with the breakers once they’re in the cart and then he puts me on them to see how they go for me. It’s always good to learn on the babies because they always throw something at you that you’re not expecting!”

After a whirlwind first fortnight in the sulky, Ella’s already learned one of racing’s great lessons – to celebrate the wins, but stay grounded.

“It’s been an awesome week but it’s definitely not easy, I know that! I’ll keep battling away and hope I can get some nice drives to just poke around and get more experience.”

From Terry Gange for Harnesslink