Turpin stable building a strong trotting team

By Jordan Gerrans

The leading Chantal Turpin stable recorded a clean sweep of the QBRED juvenile trotting Finals for 2022 on Tuesday afternoon at Albion Park.

But, it is a youngster who finished back in the field who the top trainer believes will be the best of the lot in the future.

You No Ill Be Late was a dominant winner of the three-year-old QBRED Trotting Final after claiming the Springboard Series decider late last month in similar fashion.

And, in the younger age bracket, Keneturio caused an upset, knocking over a pair of her stable mates who were much more favoured in the market in the two-year-old Final.

Keneturio finished second in the Springboard Series Final late month to stable mate Razzleme Dazzleme.

Alongside her husband and leading driver in the Sunshine State – Pete McMullen – Turpin has invested heavily in the young trotters with their band of owners in recent years.

The Turpin and McMullen team now have a stronghold on the juvenile trotting ranks in Queensland and it is not by chance.

“It was very rewarding, we have put a lot of work into the baby trotters and on Tuesday it all paid off,” Turpin said.

“Us and our owners invested a fair a few years and we took a risk, but it has all paid off and it is great now.

“Racing Queensland have boosted the baby trotters and boosted the prize money for them so we thought it was a good opportunity to try and strike and get a few bonuses for our owners.

“We thought that was the way to go.”

The stable currently boasts seven young trotters, You No Ill Be Late in the three-year-old grade, with the rest younger again.

As the Patrick Estate-based team have strived to focus their attention in on the young trotters, the task was a little more difficult than first imagined for the trainer and driver combination. 

They have had an extensive success with pacers over their time in the industry but had to slightly shift the way they prepare their standardbreds in a bid to claim the QBRED feature spoils on offer.

“We were probably quite shocked about how much work they actually did cop; they had a lot of ground work and a lot of miles,” Turpin said.

“They were in the bike nearly every day getting used to the trotting and the gigs.

“They had a lot of miles and days being cart horses for jog trips and stuff.

“They cop a little more work than the pacers to try and settle them down a little.”

The team took a conservative approach with promising young trotter Venus Love earlier this year after a slight injury forced her out of a Group 1 event at Menangle.

Turpin thinks Venus Love will only improve once she returns from her spell in the paddock with her recovering leg.

While the respected trainer says her crew of trotters are all “pretty even” in terms of their quality, she admits that Wewillseehowwego is likely to be the best older horse of the bunch. 

Wewillseehowwego – a brown gelding – is a three time winner from nine career starts and finished well back in the field in both the recent features.

“He is so immature and they will head out for a spell now and I think he will come back as a better three and four-year-old,” Turpin said.

Pete’s younger sister - Narissa McMullen – was able to get the seat in the three-year-old feature on Tuesday, with Pete relegated to fifth place in the event with Razzleme Dazzleme.

“We like Narissa driving our horses, she is pretty good with them,” Turpin said.

“I think she is a very underrated driver; we like her driving our horses.”

Narissa was glad to pick up the drive.

“It is terrific how well the young trotters are going up here in Queensland, it is great how well all the trotters are going at the moment in general as well,” Narissa said.