Geoff Turnbull didn’t do things by halves. When the environmental engineering businessman decided to indulge his passion in racehorses, he did so on a grand scale. He established Elwick Stud in 1998 on 200 acres of County Durham countryside near his family home, and invested in blue chip breeding stock over the next two decades.
It was an ambitious venture, but he achieved his dream of owning G1 winners with Lord Glitters – who landed the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot – and Mondialiste, who won the Woodbine Mile and Arlington Million.
Turnbull died in 2020, much mourned by the racing community. But his family is honouring his legacy by continuing to produce top-class stock to carry his dark blue and pink diabolo silks.
“It all started when he was a child,” says Geoff’s son Nick, who has taken on the running of Elwick Stud on behalf of the family. “His dad was head horsekeeper at Horden Colliery and he would spend a lot of time with him and the pit ponies. He always said that one day he’d have racehorses, and his father said he was a dreamer...
“He was the sort of man who was never going to sit still in retirement, and from the day he bought Elwick Stud he was hardly ever off it.
“He’d earned his money through hard graft, so none of us was going to argue with what he did with it. The breeding gave him great joy. I think he got more out of it than racing, and I became a lot closer to him in the last 20 years because of it. We bonded over our love of horses.”
Geoff gave his heirs a helping hand in ensuring the ongoing success of Elwick Stud by buying some brilliantly well-bred mares in his final years. Stream Song, a winning half-sister to G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares heroine Journey out of another G1 winner in Montare, was purchased for 440,000gns in 2019 and has produced this year’s Goodwood Listed winner and G2 Ribblesdale Stakes runner-up Lava Stream, by trailblazing young Dalham Hall Stud sire Too Darn Hot, as well as the high-class handicapper Iron Lion.
“He’d always been a big fan of George Strawbridge and what he’s done in the breeding world, so when a mare from one of the best Strawbridge families came up for sale, he wasn’t going to be talked out of getting her,” says Nick. “He trusted his own judgement and could be gung ho. Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t extravagant or hot-headed at all, but when he saw something he wanted, he’d go for it. He knew what he was doing with those mare purchases. It’s like he had the Midas touch.”
Many would envy Nick Turnbull being gifted such a successful nursery and its judiciously chosen stock with the rest of his family. But with that has come the heavy burden of responsibility for maintaining and building on his father’s achievements, while putting his own stamp on the place.
“Dad is always on my mind. I’m always asking myself what he would do in any situation,” he says. “Generally, it would be the ballsy option!
“Of course, the difference when Dad was running it was that it was his money, so he could do what he wanted, but the farm has to be run in a much more commercial way nowadays.”
Surely, with Lava Stream winning significant races this year, Geoff would be looking down on Elwick Stud with approval? “He’d be saying you’re not bloody spending enough!” laughs Nick.
“I’m helped by a brilliant team here, though. Our stud manager Gary Moore has been here since day one. His father George trained La Sylphide, the first racehorse my parents ever bought. There’s not much he doesn’t know or can’t do, and all the team are like that. When you have staff who care as much as they do, you’re on to a winner.”
