Emotions at a premium after Group two success

EMOTIONS were at a premium in Bathurst last night.

Contesting a feature in honour of his mother, Steve Turnbull scored an upset victory with Smooth Baht.

It’s been 13 years since a member of the famous clan has secured the Group Two.

Although the event has been part of the Bathurst calendar since 1954, it was renamed in honour of Turnbull’s mother, Shirley, in 1988.

Since then a member of the Turnbull tribe has won the event on 13 occasions.

Turnbull won the inaugural edition with Cocky Brother, before Tony, Greg, Craig, Jason and Amanda etched their names onto the honour roll.

Turnbull registered the family’s previous win when triumphant with Slick Bromac in 2009.

“It is a race I aim to have a runner in each year,” Turnbull said. “It’s not an easy race to win though as they come from everywhere for the good prizemoney.

“It had been a while since we had a win it, so to add another line on the honour roll is terrific.”

Driven to perfection by Turnbull’s daughter, Amanda, Smooth Baht was eased towards the tail of the field from barrier seven before being angled to the inside to be four-back along the pegs.

Sticking to the inside as others moved wider around the home turn, Amanda steered Smooth Baht along the sprint lane to complete a head victory from Petes Said So.

Jilliby Kun Fu was a metre-and-a-half away third in 1:57.3 over 2790 metres.

“As stoked as I am to win, just having a race in honour of Mum acknowledging the work she did behind the scenes is great,” Turnbull said.

“What a faultless drive from Amanda. She took the punt of going up the inside, never covered an extra inch of ground and got the opening she was hoping for.”