Turn It Up reaches magic milestone

By Jordan Gerrans

Shane Graham would have loved to achieve the rare milestone with a victory, but nonetheless, he was chuffed to tick past the magical $1 million mark with veteran speedster Turn It Up on Saturday evening.

Renowned for his lighting gate speed, Turn It Up has been chipping away at reaching the rich prizemoney level in recent months.

The 11-year-old did so finally on Saturday when he went within a head of beating the Grant Dixon-prepared and driven Whos Delight in the Junior Free For All event over 1660 metres.

The popular pacer joins an esteemed list of Sunshine State racehorses who have earned $1 million or more in stakes across their careers.

Turn It Up was welcomed into the ‘millionaire club’ alongside Leap To Fame, Blacks A Fake, Colt Thirty One, Flashing Red, Be Good Johnny, Slipnslide, Fleur De Lil, Washakie and For A Reason, among others.

Trainer and driver Graham has considered retirement for his evergreen gelding in recent times and was hopeful of achieving the prizemoney milestone with a victory and then pacing into retirement.

“For a split second, it looked like it was going to be that way on Saturday night, but the other horse was too good for us,” he said.

“You don't get too many opportunities to train a pacer that's earned $1 million.

“I have had the horse for so long, it was pretty great to get it. He's been at that level for so long now, he's just kept sort of turning up year in, year out.

“He races the best and he is always facing the new kid on the block that is coming through.

“He's still been able to sort of match up with them, which is great. It just shows how good a horse he is.

“It's all his ability that's done it, I’ve just been lucky enough to have him all this time and he's done a great effort.”

Retirement is still likely on the cards for Turn It Up but the 43-year-old reinsman is likely to wait until he grabs another victory before officially pulling stumps on his sparkling career.

Following his run on Saturday night, Graham says his stable warrior has pulled up well and there is no question around his eagerness or soundness to race on.

Turn It Up last won in the middle of December last year over 2138 metres in a standing start event on a Tuesday afternoon at Albion Park.

It was an unusual occurrence to even see the gelding at a midweek race meeting as he has raced predominantly at the city Saturday evening program since he lobbed in the Sunshine State.

He has 39 victories on his resume from 125 attempts to go along with 50 other minor placings.

Turn It Up is approaching retirement with the earnings of a superstar pacer such as Leap To Fame, Blacks A Fake and Colt Thirty One, among others.

But, he doesn’t have a signature victory on his resume like his contemporaries do.  

That might just add to Turn It Up’s folklore that he was able to bust past $1 million in stake earnings without winning a big-time race.

He was competitive in multiple Sunshine Sprints.

He raced through several Inter Dominion series’ and reached the decider in 2023.

“I'd love to get another one like him, but I don’t think that will happen,” Graham said.

“It would have been good if we could have cracked a big Group 1 with him.

“But, with his injuries and different things, he probably wasn’t quite as good as what he looked like being back when he was racing in New Zealand. 

"He has still done a big effort to do what he has done. I got a buzz out of any race he won.”

Turn It Up has placed in multiple Group-level events across his career, including the Group 2 Queensland Cup in 2021 and 2022, the Blacks A Fake in 2022, the Be Good Johnny Sprint on several occasions as well as a Flashing Red Discretionary Handicap in 2022 and 2023.

While he does not have a big Group 1 crown on his resume, Graham says he is most certainly proud of the fact Turn It Up stopped the clock in a mile rate of 1.49.8 in the middle of last year in a race at Brisbane's harness headquarters. 

It is an exclusive club to break the 1.50 barrier at Albion Park and he is thrilled to be in it with his old warhorse.

The son of Courage Under Fire arrived in Queensland in the middle of 2020 as a Group 1-winner with his career at the crossroads with ongoing injury concerns.

The former NZ-based pacer battles arthritis and bad feet, with Graham having to manage his workload during the week, as well as space out his runs.

Graham has managed to maintain a sound and happy horse in the following seasons.

“Probably the most recognised thing about him was his gate speed, I think,” he said.

“It didn't matter what state you were from in Australia, I'm pretty sure people from most states knew about gate speed and how quick he was.

“He is probably best known for that, I reckon.

“As long as he drew one through seven, he was always going to be the leader and that doesn't happen very often in this day and age.”

Graham heads back to Albion Park on Tuesday with four pacers he trains himself as well as a few drives for other trainers.