Personality Profile January 2003

Gary Turkington

WATTLE BRAE and the Turkington family have a proud tradition in Australian thoroughbred history and, as GRAEME KELLY discovered when researching this profile, the stud is undergoing a revival thanks to Gary Turkington, the latest family member to take the helm at this historic Queensland property. NESTLING in fertile pastoral lands in rolling hills on the eastern slopes of the Darling Downs, Wattle Brae Stud is these days renowned as being a showplace of the Queensland thoroughbred industry.

  Importantly, too, the stud which spreads over 800ha (2000 acres) is described by internationally respected veterinarian Professor Reg Pascoe as being “one of the best pieces of horse country in the state”.

  The property is steeped in the finest family traditions associated with the breeding of thoroughbred racehorses. Established in 1921 Wattle Brae has long been a mainstay of the state’s breeding industry and the home for stallions of the calibre of Passing Glance and Pandour, who between them won 15 Queensland Sires’ Premierships.

  Over the years Wattle Brae has bred more than 240 stakes winners in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, from a relatively modest band of broodmares.

  The feature race winners bred at Wattle Brae began with Dudley Persse, Schoolmate and Gerald in the 1930s and continued through the 1940s and 1950s with the likes of Plovarius, the BATC Doomben Cup winner Forge, Big Spree, Bystander, Grand One, Highway, the AJC Villiers Stakes winner Kev Mar, The Beaver, Thurlow and Timor.

  Later still came Ampass, the AJC The Metropolitan winner Bon Teint, Doomben Cup winner Dual Control, the QTC Stradbroke Handicap and dual VRC Lightning Stakes hero Mister Hush, AJC Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Panvale as well as QTC Queensland Guineas winner Waminda.

  Also, more recently there has been the 1997 VRC Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Bright Spot.

  However there was a time, not so long ago, when Gary Turkington who runs the stud in conjunction with his wife Phoebe, wondered whether conducting Wattle Brae was the right lifestyle for him.

  “I’d been on the farm all my life and I had been working with horses for 20 years,” Gary said. “I felt I needed a spell.

  “So from 1990 to 1995 I scaled right down on the horses. I kept Captain Piper and a handful of mares and I went and built houses and units.

  “I didn’t have any experience or training in the building game but I had some friends, who were builders and I employed them to build for me. It was something different and I enjoyed it.”

  Then on marrying Phoebe, a well known producer for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, in 1993, Gary began reassessing the direction his future should follow.

  A horse lover, Phoebe also had a deep family connection with the racing industry through her aunty Marjorie Kellett, who raced a number of horses in partnership with her father W.J. Bradshaw including the 1965 AJC Derby and 1966 Sydney Cup winner Prince Grant.

  “I still had staff at Wattle Brae and I had been using the place as a base,” Gary continued. “The stud wasn’t really going anywhere, but then Phoebe and I had a discussion about what we were going to do.

  “I felt I’d been there and done that as far as the building was concerned and we knew we had a beautiful place so we resolved that we would start Wattle Brae really going again. After Phoebe and I decided to get back into the horses we developed a five-year plan of redeveloping Wattle Brae.

  “Since then we’ve pulled out just about every old fence and replaced them all, as well as planting about 700 trees with drippers.

  “We also built a new home, stable blocks as well as an entertainment centre for stud clients and the busloads of people who are now coming into Wattle Brae on tours. We’re very proud of what we’ve done.”

  Their decision to refurbish the property would no doubt have pleased Gary’s ancestors for the legend of Wattle Brae stretches back to the late 19th century and covers three generations of the Turkington family.

  The story began when George Turkington, Gary’s great-grandfather, arrived in Australia from Ulster in the 1890s as a 15 year-old.

  After marrying he settled, in 1910, on a 200-acre annexure of Pilton Homestead, which at the time was one of the great properties of the Darling Downs region.

  In 1921 his eldest son Thomas and his wife Daisy founded the Wattle Brae Stud on George’s 200 acres, and five years later they began standing the imported horse King’s Scholar, who was a son of Your Majesty.

  “Horses were all they had in those days, and before going into breeding thoroughbreds Grandad was on the first Clydesdale Classification Board,” Gary said. “In those days he bred Clydesdales and plough horses.

  “I remember my Grandma telling me that the locals thought Tom was silly, because when he bought the 200 acres he had nothing to plough the land with. So he put out an advertisement saying he would break-in Clydesdales to the plough and he would break them into harness and ploughing by doing his own paddocks.

  “That meant he didn’t have to outlay any money and that he was being paid for ploughing up his own place, so he had that all worked out.”

  Being wily characters Tom and Daisy were gradually able to increase their holding over the years and the process was continued on by their son Ray and his wife Mariann.

  “The original 200 acres has become about 2000 acres. We have around 700 acres under cultivation to oats, barley and lucerne.

  “There are also a couple of hundred acres under irrigation in the mare and foal section, so they always have a green pick no matter the time of the year or the weather conditions.”

  Gary said his grandfather and father went through a series of stallions over the years until they “struck gold with Passing Glance.”

  “My father was a bomber instructor in World War II. After he came back from Canada, where he was an instructing under the Royal Empire Training Scheme, he was offered a captaincy with Qantas, but Grandad had been working the farm and the stud while Dad was away, so my father felt obliged to come back and help him run the place.”

  It was a most successful period in the stud’s annals, for Passing Glance who was by Nearco from the Coronach mare Cora Deans, proved to be an instant success after beginning his duties at Wattle Brae in 1949.

  The sire of the 1954 QTC Sires’ Produce Stakes winner Thurlow, his progeny also featured the stakes winners La Glance, Nukeha, Regal Glance, West Glance, Harbour View, Passing Dance, Ampass, Voir Tout and Barney Mac.

  Two years later Passing Glance, who won 11 Queensland Sires’ Premierships, was joined at the stud by Near Way, who was by Nearco from the Sir Galahad III mare Booklet. He is best remembered as being the sire of Timor, who won the AJC Epsom Handicap in 1957 and the QTC Brisbane Cup in 1958.

  Then in 1961, Pandour, who was by Petition from the Big Game mare Belle Sauvage joined the Wattle Brae roster and also proved to be another winner for the stud. His notable winners included Panvale, Dual Control (whose victories featured a BATC Doomben Cup), Competition, Desert Beau, Secret Agent, Swift Glimpse, Blush d’Or, Bon Teint, the prolific stakes winner Our Cavalier, Panard, Charred and Quiet Lady.

  Pandour also won a further four Queensland Sires’ Premierships for Wattle Brae.

  Later Claudius, who was by the Ribot horse Romulus from Java Sparrow by Mossborough, began standing under the Turkington’s banner.

  “I was in boarding school at Southport when Dad and Mum went overseas. Dad had the idea of buying a stallion while he was away but before left he was offered Kaoru Star by Elders.

  “He said he would buy him as well, if he had enough money left over when he came back.

  “Dad bought Claudius and so I rang Garth Hughes and asked whether Kaoru Star was still available and he said ‘yes’ but by the next morning he had been bought by Lionel Israel for Segenhoe Stud . . . so we nearly had him.”

  During the reign at Wattle Brae of Claudius, who won a Queensland Sires’ Premiership and was Leading Australian Sire by Wins, Gary completed his education and returned to the stud.

  “I came home from school at 17 in 1974 and worked closely with Dad for the first 10 years. Then, basically, for around the past 18 years I’ve been in charge.”

  He began gathering experience on the worldwide scene by travelling overseas on a regular basis to the United States, England, France and Ireland where he worked on studs.

  “Each year I’d probably go overseas for a couple of months seeing how other people operated,” Gary said.

  He also began racing horses.

  “The first horse I had was named Rea Silvea, who was by Claudius. I was about 17 at the time and he won six races for me in Brisbane.”

  Carefully avoiding a rush of blood as a result of his initial successes, Gary did not race another horse for four years. When he did he chose wisely for he became a part-owner of Faustina, who was by Claudius from the Pandour mare Blue Way. She proved herself to be a most capable performer by defeating Fire Thunder and Sovereign Chief in the QTC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) at Eagle Farm, as a two year-old.

  Around that period Gary followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a member of the committees of the Toowoomba Turf Club and the Queensland division of the Bloodhorse Breeders’ Association. He is still serving in those capacities.

  Then in 1984, with the near miss of a decade before still uppermost in his mind, the first stallion Gary secured in his own right was the Kaoru Star horse Captain Piper, who was from the Lyphard mare Toscan Girl.

  He was also a winner for both Wattle Brae and Gary. In his first season at stud Captain Piper was mated with the Denizen mare Gayita to produce Ballook who was raced in a partnership of the Turkingtons, Jim Kennedy, Sir James Killen and Judge E. Broad.

  Trained by the redoubtable Norm Stephens and ridden by Peter Cook, Balook provided Gary with his first major race success when he defeated Startling Lass and Temple Front in the STC Silver Slipper Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill on October 24, 1987.

  “I thought he was a nice colt so I decided to keep him back from the sale. After he won his trial by eight lengths I sold half of him to the others - and kept half myself.”

  Another horse by Captain Piper he later raced was Marcapasos, a winner of 13 races who scored a record-breaking victory over Chief de Beers in the Nescafe Flying (1200m) at Doomben.

  It was after standing Dolly’s Alydar - “he wasn’t very successful” - for a few years from the mid-1980s Gary decided to scale down his operation. However with his desire to follow a different way of life satisfied - plus Phoebe’s involvement and support - Gary returned to the fold in the mid-1990s.

  “We began standing T.V. Heart Throb and Hatta’s Mill for a while but when we started our five-year plan we decided we’d complete all the developments before we would stand a serious horse again,” he said.

  “After everything was in place and we were ready to stand a $1m horse, I went out and negotiated to buy Easy Rocking who won the VRC Salinger Stakes-Gr.1 (1200m), at Flemington and four other Group races. We began standing him in 2001 and he’s had two wonderful books of mares.”

  Easy Rocking, an imposing individual standing 16.1 hands, is by Barathea from the Twig Moss mare Twiglet. He has the distinction of being a half-brother to the exceptional Hong Kong performer Fairy King Prawn, who two years ago was described by veteran trainer George Hanlon as “the best horse in the world.”

  The Turkingtons also secured the Mr. Henrysee horse Mr. Innocent for Wattle Brae at the beginning of the 2001 breeding season.

  An outstanding racehorse, Mr. Innocent had scored 14 victories, featuring the BTC Doomben 10,000-Gr.1 (1350m) as well as nine other Group and Listed Races, and run seven placings from his 36 starts for prizewinnings of $1,695,750.

  “Mr. Innocent has had very good books of mares in his two seasons at the stud,” Gary added.

  Then, this year, Dolphin’s Ace was added to the roster. By Dolphin Street, he is an unraced half-brother to Yallambee Stud’s champion Testa Rossa, who registered six of his 13 wins in Gr.1 company.

  “We agreed to stand Dolphin’s Ace for Bill Wylie, who is one of the major owners Bart Cummings has. He is a suitable horse for those clients of ours who only want to spend a couple of thousand on a service fee.

  “He’s ideal for those breeders who want to race horses themselves and to have some fun without being involved in a great outlay.”

  Another aspect of Wattle Brae’s resurgence is an increased presence at the Magic Millions Yearling Sales on the Gold Coast. This year the stud will be presenting colts by End Sweep, Flying Spur, Kings of Kings, Octagonal and Victory Note as well as filllies by Orpen and Way of Light.

  “We have turned everything right around. At the sales coming up we have seven yearlings going into the ring rather than just one or two.

  “Next year we will have even more with the Easy Rockings and Mr. Innocent yearlings coming up for sale. They include a three-quarter brother, by Mr. Innocent, to last season’s champion two year-old Victory Vein so we are really looking forward to that.”