Turnbull Stakes to feature several spring contenders

Romantic Warrior
Romantic Warrior heads a cracking field in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes at Flemington on Saturday.

The Group 1 Turnbull Stakes at Flemington has attracted a full field of 16 runners, with two emergencies awaiting scratchings to get a start in the hot field on Saturday afternoon.

The Danny Shum-trained Romantic Warrior will be the highlight of the 2023 Turnbull Stakes, which has been earmarked as the Hong Kong raider’s kickoff point for his Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival for some time now.

The son of Acclimation has won 10 of his 14 starts, with three of those wins coming at Group 1 level, including back-to-back victories in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in 2022 and 2023.

However, a less-than-ideal draw in barrier 11 will not help Romantic Warrior’s chances in the Flemington feature.

Also hailing from abroad is the Simon & Ed Crisford-trained West Wind Blows, who brings solid Group form from England and appears to be on a Cox Plate or Caulfield Cup path.

As for the local hopes, Chris Waller and the Ciaron Maher & David Eustace team each have four runners in the Turnbull Stakes.

Of those two powerhouse stables, Waller has received much more favourable barrier draws.

Melbourne Cup winner Gold Trip (18) and 2022 Turnbull Stakes winner Smokin’ Romans (17) have drawn horribly and will be joined by Right You Are (16) and Duke De Sessa (12), giving the Maher & Eustace-trained horses four of the eight widest barriers.

As for the Waller contingent, Soulcombe (2), Francesco Guardi (7), Osipenko (6) and El Bodegon (9) have all drawn good barriers and should receive economical runs from inside-to-middle gates.

The 2023 Turnbull Stakes should prove to be a good form reference going forward, as several runners will be pushing onto big Group 1 features throughout the Victorian and Sydney spring carnivals.


Turnbull Stakes 2023 final field

No. Silks Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight
1 Silks
Romantic Warrior
Danny Shum
James McDonald
11
59kg
2 Silks
Gold Trip
Ciaron Maher & David Eustace
Mark Zahra
18
58kg
3 Silks
Smokin’ Romans
Ciaron Maher & David Eustace
Jamie Mott
17
58kg
4 Silks
Francesco Guardi
Chris Waller
Damian Lane
7
57kg
5 Silks
West Wind Blows
Simon & Ed Crisford
Jamie Spencer
8
56.5kg
6 Silks
Emissary
Mike Moroney
Jamie Kah
5
56kg
7 Silks
Osipenko
Chris Waller
Damien Oliver
6
56kg
8 Silks
Uncle Bryn
Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young
Daniel Moor
1
56kg
9 Silks
Berkeley Square
Dan O’Sullivan
Harry Coffey
14
56kg
10 Silks
Bank Maur
Richard Laming
Craig Newitt
4
56kg
11 Silks
Soulcombe
Chris Waller
Craig Williams
2
56kg
12 Silks
Duke De Sessa
Ciaron Maher & David Eustace
John Allen
12
56kg
13 Silks
Spanish Mission
Peter Moody & Katherine Coleman
TBC
10
55kg
14 Silks
El Bodegon
Chris Waller
Ben Melham
9
55kg
15 Silks
Right You Are
Ciaron Maher & David Eustace
TBC
16
56kg
16 Silks
Lunar Flare
Grahame Begg
Michael Dee
15
54kg
17 Silks
El Patroness (1E)
Danny O’Brien
Jye McNeil
3
53kg
18 Silks
Goldman (2E)
Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott
Jordan Childs
13
55kg

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