Les Turner, the last man to train a horse at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds, passed away early on Sunday morning.
An accomplished horseman and an Australian rodeo riding champion, Turner was based in the Ascot Vale area all of his life.
His working life association with the suburb, home to night trotting for almost 30 years, began when he started as a cattle drover at the nearby Newmarket Saleyards.
There Turner met Jim Matthews and the pair would race several horses together over the years.
Turner is perhaps best remembered for horses the calibre of Adios Bear (1968 NSW and Victorian Trotters Derby and 1969 Australasian Trotters Championship), and Never Say Die (1969 Victorian Sapling Stakes and Leeton Breeders Plate and 1970 South Australian Sires Produce Stakes).
Other multiple winners included Rusty Thor, Memento (raced by champion footballer Des Tuddenham) and his last horse, Im The Navigator, among countless others.
Turner briefly shifted his training operation to his daughter’s property at Sunbury when they took out the trotting track at the Showgrounds as part of a redevelopment of the main arena a decade ago.
His last involvement with horses was swimming gallopers from the Lloyd Williams stable at Altona Beach when well into his 70s.
A respected conditioner of horses who also broke in many exceptional types, Turner took great pride in the appearance of his team.
He is survived by his wife Val (nee Patten, another famous Melbourne trotting family) and daughters Gayle and Jo.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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