Why the Turnbull?

Among the oldest such Flemington races is the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes, the October start to the glory of Melbourne’s spring racing. But who was Turnbull and why is he still honoured in this way, seventy-eight years later?

First, let’s consider whether the Turnbull Stakes was a brand new race when launched in 1948. Many saw it as the continuation of a contest held at Flemington since the 1860s, under a succession of names, over various distances, at various dates in spring. It had been the Royal Park Stakes (1866–94), September Stakes (1895–97), October Stakes (1898–1935) and the Melbourne Stakes (1936–47). It was customarily weight-for-age, most often won by champions, from The Barb to Bernborough.

The new Turnbull Stakes in 1948 was over 1½ miles (2414 metres), instead of the previous mile (altered to 2000 metres early in the 1970s), and prize money was boosted by one-third. Its first winner was the classy Adelaide horse Beau Gem, who boasted nine principal race wins in his career including the Victoria Derby.

The next year saw the brilliant Comic Court, who won again in 1950 before taking the Melbourne Cup. Four years later Rising Fast completed this double, adding the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate to his collection.

After him, right through to Via Sistina and last year’s winner, Sir Delius, the Turnbull’s honour roll is simply star-studded. Run your eye over the long list of champions including multiple winners of Melbourne Cups, Caulfield Cups and Cox Plates.

VRC bestowed this singular honour while Richard Turnbull was still serving as Chairman. Earlier illustrious figures had to wait until retirement or death to be recognised in this way. C.B. Fisher, L.K.S. Mackinnon come to mind. Turnbull had been a Committee member for seventeen years at the time, Vice Chairman only from 1938 and Chairman since 1942. He retired shortly before his death in 1951.

The explanation for the accolade is complex. By any measure, Richard Turnbull’s time as VRC Chairman was more challenging than any comparable era in the Club’s history. He took over in the depths of the Second World War.

It needed all the Club’s powers of political persuasion to convince the Federal Government to allow racing to continue, albeit under severe restrictions, rather than cease altogether. Flemington stayed open, hosting other clubs, while many tracks had to close for military use, several never to return.

VRC profits went to patriotic funds. The end of the war, in 1945, coincided with drought and transport restrictions. Rationing of building materials, heavy taxation, and priority for training facilities, all meant that hopes of upgrading public amenities at Flemington continually had to be deferred.

Turnbull’s achievement would not be measured by new grandstands. Instead it was by sheer tenacity, grace under pressure, determination to keep the wheels turning.

Outsiders looked at Richard Turnbull and envied a fortunate life: his big house in Toorak, his family’s extensive pastoral holdings at Lansdowne Station in western Queensland. His broodmare North Star produced the 1942 VRC Wakeful and Oaks Stakes winner, East End, and the full brother, Sirius, who won the 1944 Hotham Handicap and Melbourne Cup.

Beneath the surface, and with dignity, Richard Turnbull during his time in office had been dealing with one personal disaster after another.

Hardly a word of this made its way into the public realm, as Turnbull was very much a private man. He and his wife Emily had been quietly philanthropic, notably through Red Cross and Scots Church, Melbourne, while she served as president of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

They had three children of their own. Their two sons were killed during the war. Flying Officer John Turnbull with the RAAF, a former elite oarsman, was killed in an aerial operational accident in the Netherlands East Indies, in January 1942 aged 24. Lt William ‘Mack’ Turnbull, with the British Royal Artillery and then with a Gurkha regiment, was killed in action in Burma a year later, January 1943, just short of his twenty-first birthday.

And then Richard’s nephew, RAAF Flying Officer Henry Hume Turnbull, was lost over Norway in October 1944, aged 21. The news reached the family around the time of Sirius’s win in the Melbourne Cup.

Post-war, there was more sorrow. In March 1948, Mrs Turnbull flew to London for the wedding of daughter Anne to Major Martin Clemens but died soon after her arrival, days before the scheduled ceremony.

These were the private griefs of Richard Turnbull, yet he continued his work and advocacy for Victoria’s racing. We can understand why his Committee chose to honour him in this way. Taking the long view, the Turnbull Stakes symbolises the VRC’s determination that through the best and through the worst of times, spring is always Spring at Flemington.