LEGENDARY horse trainer Bill Turner has died aged 78 – with his devastated daughter saying: “He was everyone’s dad.”
The famed handler who had looked after horses for 60 years passed away on Thursday morning – two days after fracturing his skull in an awful accident.
Racingfotos.comBeloved horse trainer Bill Turner has died aged 78 – two days after fracturing his skull in a ‘freak accident’ at his Dorset base[/caption]
Daughter Kathy confirmed his sad death live on Sky Sports Racing in an understandably emotional interview with Sun Racing’s Matt Chapman, who said: “Everyone in racing will miss him.”
She described the incident with a young cob horse as a ‘freak accident’, saying: “I can’t get round this injury doing this to him.
“I’ve pulled him out from under horses, he’s been up on roofs just last Sunday – that was him, you’d never change him.
“Dad passed away about an hour-and-a-half ago – we had the phone call while on the way to Chepstow races.
“He slipped away this morning.
“The messages and the support from everyone have just been absolutely outstanding.
“I’ve tried to reply to as many people as I could but I’m so sorry if I haven’t replied.
“The love that man had – he wasn’t just my dad, he was everyone’s dad.
“The people he helped all through his years. He was everyone’s dad.
“He would have preferred to be going flat out up the gallops with something like this.
“But it was just a freak accident. He was holding onto a cob, not on top of a racehorse going flat out, which he thoroughly enjoyed.”
Everyone will be cheering on Turner’s final ever runner Red Snapper in the 3pm race at Chepstow today.
As recently as 18 months ago Turner said he was still riding out three lots a day – something he loved to do.
Recalling his passion for racing and horses, he said how his late father would tell him: “Don’t retire, because there are two chairs that will kill you – the electric chair and the armchair!”
Turner, who was born in 1947 in the Shropshire village of Clun, has won the Brocklesby at Doncaster – the first big two-year-old race of the season – a record six times.
One of the longest-serving trainers in Britain and a jockey before that, he has two Listed victories to his name as well – and has never been afraid to try new things.
One of the most bizarre was when he started training a zebra called Zebedee to run like a thoroughbred.
Bought from a Dutch game reserve for £4,500 in 2009, Turner ultimately wanted to get the horse over jumps.
But he had to settle for riding round his Sherborne base – much to the amusement of drinkers down the local who thought they had had a few too many when they saw him cantering past.
Turner, who was described by the local newspaper as ‘bonkers’, said at the time: “I had always wanted to see if I could train a zebra like a horse and had tried for years to get one.
“Then a friend in Belgium who knew I wanted one managed to find one and I brought him over.
“He is only half grown and we’ve only been training him for a few weeks but it is going very well.
“At first I thought I had bitten off more than I could chew because he saw everything as a predator.
“I ride him with a saddle and I take him out to the village and the first time I did it a few people outside the pub ran back in thinking their beer was a bit strong.”
Turner’s most successful year as a trainer came in 2012 when he saddled 29 winners and won just shy of £100,000 in prize money.
He smashed the six-figure ceiling several times, including in 2006 when The Lord gave him the first of his two Listed wins with victory in the Achilles Stakes at Goodwood.
Sky Sports Racing host Alex Hammond was among the hundreds paying tribute to a hero in the sport.
She wrote on X: “Really sad news. Condolences to Bill’s family. He was Mr Brocklesby.”
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