Trend- setting Turnell back in fashion again
NOTHING much changes. Back in the 1970s teenagers’ hair was long, their jeans flared and they teetered on platforms.
With the fashionistas championing the retro look, today’s youngsters look like they’ve been pilfering their parents’ wardrobes.
I reckon that even my ancient Rod Stewart LPs would be snapped up with old gravel voice enjoying a renaissance.
The racing world of Andy Turnell has also come full circle. His sevenyear effort to carve a career in the north ended in the summer. Now he is back home and seemingly thriving on the same gallops that he rode on as a boy in Wiltshire, having taken over the stable of recently-retired Jeff King.
To jockeys of my generation Andy was a cult figure, his stirrup leathers hitched up short, backside in the air as he defied gravity. In the playground we may have all wanted to be Lester Piggott but when physical reality struck us that dream became Andy.
It is 31 years this weekend since he won the Mackeson Gold Cup at Cheltenham on my father Michael’s Bruslee, a race staged under the sponsorship of Irish bookies Paddy Power this Saturday.
I watched the greatest day in dad’s training career on the school TV in Hereford and can still remember the thrill as Andy drove Bruslee home from a youthful John Francome on Fred Winter’s Soothsayer.
The dream was then of Gold Cups. But Bruslee, a gelding we’d been sent from Colin Davies, the man who handled the career of triple Champion Hurdler Persian
NICK GIFFORD reckons a
new all-weather gallop means that his string are fitter at this stage of the season than for previous campaigns, evidence borne out by last week’s Fontwell winner Soleil Fix and KiIlaghy Castle, who was three lengths clear when falling at the last at Stratford. Gifford recommends Russian Around, a winner on his hurdling debut at Wincanton last month, as his novice to follow. War, suffered from brucellosis, an infection that limited his potential and we were left to wonder what might have been.
The same may have been the case for Andy in recent years. With the backing of wealthy industrialist Dr John Hollowood, he moved first to Thirsk and then to Malton but sustained success and, more importantly, local backing eluded him.
The trainer who had won a Grand National with Maori Venture in 1987, the 1991 Queen Mother Champion Chase with Katabatic and the 1993 Hennessy Gold Cup thanks to Cogent was slipping off the map.
Reverting to what he knew best seemed the thing to do and he headed back south. The retirement of King, who now rides out for him, offered Turnell a perfect opportunity to start again and with four winners from just eight runners in September and October he has had the ideal start. Now he is aiming to build up his string to 50 after his latest acquisition, Shannon Springs from the Flat stable of Barry Hills.
Turnell said: ‘The move north was a learning curve though it was not as successful as I would have liked. I thought I could step into Flat racing but I couldn’t attract the owners.
‘ I think many people thought I was a private trainer for Dr Hollowood. We won races and had a fourth in High Chaparral’s 2002 Derby with Jelani but injury prevented him from running in the St Leger which the form subsequently suggested he would have gone close in.’
These days Andy is a great admirer of Graham Lee, who he regards as the ‘ complete jockey’. That was what they were saying about Andy when as a teenage sensation he rode nine winners from his first 11 rides over hurdles.
His father Bob was one of the great post-war jump trainers with a team of top quality jockeys, headed by Bill Rees, who became royal jockey.
Andy had to scrap for rides with the notoriously brave King and supreme stylist Johnny Haine.
The constant theme was discipline. Bob ran his yard with military precision and a strict dress code. ‘I rode out in a collar and tie for father to keep my neck warm,’ laughs Andy now but I can remember him sneaking out of the Wincanton weighing room to make sure his father didn’t catch him wearing jeans.
Maybe it was that rebellious streak that inspired the distinctive riding style which we came to associate with the likes of Birds Nest, probably one of the best hurdlers never to win a Champion Hurdle, and Beacon Light.
Andy denies that adding: ‘I’m not particularly proud of riding so short, but I had been riding out from a young age and was used to it. Like Lester, I was the son of a trainer and was brought up with horses. Obviously, I tried to copy Lester. ‘ Another reason was that I injured a knee and pulled my leathers up to be above the pain and it felt comfortable. I wouldn’t recommend youngsters doing it now.’
Through a glorious era Bob Turnell produced giants of the jumping game like Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Pas Seul, Champion Hurdle hero Salmon Spray and top chasers Summerville and The Laird.
That’s something for his son to aim at.