Turnbull goes one-two in Oaks

The three-year-old has now won her first two starts for the Turnbull stable at The Lagoon convincingly, after coming across from New Zealand via Shepparton.

The race went exactly to script for Alta Madeira ($1.40), who Turnbull said she was pretty confident in to get the job done.

“I thought if she could get to the front easy enough, which she did, she would do it easy,” Turnbull said after the race.

Punters, of which there were clearly plenty, piled into the filly, who somehow opened at $3 before being slashed into $1.40 at the jump – and twenty seconds into the 2040 metre race they were already on their way to the TAB to collect their tickets.

From gate five, with slow horses drawn inside, Turnbull shot straight to the front on the filly, and she had no qualms with a gate that might be a bit sticky to some horses.

“There was no worries at all with the gate, she’s pretty good like that,” said Turnbull.

It was yet another driving masterclass from Turnbull, who ran the rest of the field ragged in the 1:59.7 victory; with the swift quarters of 31.8, 29, 29.4 and 29.8.

It was a nice easy quinella for both Turnbull and favourite backers, with Hold My Halo ($6.50) finishing 8.3 metres back in second; a further three metres in front of the Lester Hewitt-trained Mach Brillance ($8), who finished in third.

For Turnbull though, there was a third runner that was just as good – Miss Lemon ($15) – who has won twice previously on the Parkes track.

“There was not much between all three (Alta Madeira, Miss Lemon and Hold My Halo) of them really, and if any of the others drew well and led, they probably would’ve done the exact same thing,” said Turnbull.

Turnbull currently has four drives booked for Wednesday night’s meeting in Bathurst, with five runners from her stable engaged.