T he Victoria Racing Club has a tradition of naming feature races after prominent administrators with a record of long or special service. Some of these venerable race names continue to the present day—the Bagot, Standish, Byron Moore, Manifold, for example—while others have been relegated to the records. 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. Turnbull? WHY THE By Andrew Lemon
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