Amanda Turnbull

[Adaptor]

I thought I would start this to recognize Amanda's skill and her travelling ability.

I noticed her watching partner Nathan drive in the last at Bendigo on Friday night , after having trained and driven the winner of race 4.
Last night at Wagga she drove 3 winners and a second.
Tonight she's at Wangaratta where she's driving the favorite in the George Croxford Tribute.
Tomorrow....( not listed at Horsham. Whew!)
Pops up at Ballarat on Wednesday driving for Emma Stewart
She was at Mildura last Wednesday for a training/driving win!

How does she do this?
Season record: 343 starts, 98 wins, 58 seconds, 33 thirds
She's placed every second drive !

[Messenger]

VERY impressive Noel
but just as impressive is "how do you have more up-to-date records than HRA"?

[Adaptor]

Hi Kevin
I used the results and fields from HRV, and checked using the Sky Racing website.
I wonder how many Ks she does a week? Looks to be travelling at least as many Ks as D Douglas did when he was criss-crossing the state.

And...Amanda is at Yarra Valley on Thursday, with a drive for Emma Stewart, and 2 trainees of her own, driving one with the other a claim for Mark Pitt.

[Messenger]

2 thirds from her 2 drives at Wang plus she trained the last winner Nathan drove
Nathan also won the George Croxford after Amanda's Glenferrie Bronte blew the start - she may still have won if she did not have so much traffic to negotiate on the tight circuit

[kung fu man]

Hello Noel great post by the way, after having a horse at the Turnbulls last season ive got to say originally i thought the reason Amanda had so many winners was because she drove the pick of thier horses in a race but that is only a small part of the equation,she really has the feel of her drives and knows every ones ability, even her opposition.She goes into a race knowing everything needed ,gate speed and tactics but most of all great handsi would rate her in the top 5 drivers going around and she deserves every accolade going her way .She would be the first pick to drive one for me if i had one good enough!!!

[HaroldParker]

She's incredible and from a punting perspective whenever her or Nathan Jack are on, you know they've done their homework.

The same can't be said of numerous other "leading" drivers who often just steer them around and very little else before hand. It's B grade stuff.

[Adaptor]

Amanda Turnbull 1 from 1 driving for the Emma Stweart/Clayton Tonkin stable

http://www.harness.org.au/meeting-results.cfm?mc=BA110315&ms=vic

[aussiebreno]

Amanda Turnbull 1 from 1 driving for the Emma Stweart/Clayton Tonkin stable

http://www.harness.org.au/meeting-results.cfm?mc=BA110315&ms=vic

I reckon Amanda has driven for Stewart in the past, about 3 Friday nights ago at Melton at least.

[Messenger]

It has been a meteoric rise when you think about it - from literally a handful of winners last season to 8th on the Vic trainers premiership table at this stage with 34 winners (another one tonight)

http://www.harness.org.au/vic-premierships.cfm

[Messenger]

Rightio, who is going to tell me the Amanda Turnbull story. Forget the end of last season when she was just setting up and notched a handful of winners, now in her first complete season down here she is 19th on the NATIONAL Trainers premiership and already has about 70 winners
Apart from hard work, how does one do that?
By that I mean where are the horses coming from, they are not all juveniles so they must have come from other stables.
Dads? The Jacks?
I could do some research but I thought someone may be able to shed some light on it for me

[Messenger]

'She does not like to be interviewed before races' = Not Good enough in this day and age

[Mr Anderson]

Nice Girl and a nice driver with no black marks against her name which is a rarity in harness racing for a top driver

[Messenger]

Nice Girl and a nice driver with no black marks against her name which is a rarity in harness racing for a top driver

but not prepared to promote the industry Robert

[Messenger]

That is where the interviewer was when he made the statement Wayne, so probably

[Mr Anderson]

but not prepared to promote the industry Robert I think her family promote the industry well.
like a lot of people she might not like Gareth Hall with his on track antics

[Richard prior]

^^^^ +1

[Messenger]

Ok, if so, I reckon that's a bit rough for the interviewer to make that comment even more-so than the thought Amanda is not prepared to promote the industry Kev. Not defending Amanda Turnbull, besides she does do a good job promoting by driving/training heaps of winners, but am wondering about how in depth the interviews are becoming and why driver's might be cautious and/or not willing. You've got to consider when asked their imminent plans/tactics, other drivers are within earshot and combined with the COT rule, they are open to public perception, and the steward's interpretation. Of course they are obliged to drive the horse in a consistent manner but if they say one thing then make a subtle change out of the gate there might come a time when their decisions are scrutinised under the "microscope" when they haven't really broken the COT rule. And why wouldn't you use the opportunity to try to bluff other drivers? I guess some drivers, when interviewed won't really say anything, I guess Amanda could have said "yep the horse has warmed up well". The other perspective is with you being the owner or punter of that horse, and driver, you may not want that driver to disclose very much and would rather the driver focus on the race about to start. If the interviewer hadn't made the comment, 'She does not like to be interviewed before races', who misses out? Would not even prospective owners and punters understand a driver might be like Bart (RIP), who said "loose lips sink ships"? I think the pre race start interviews have value but maybe the interviewers need to consider what they're asking at times.

I have actually said in the past that I dont think much of the track interviews because they are too late and as for a driver providing valuable previously unknown info - well that is a real rarity. What I was trying to say is - if it has been approved by HRV then she should not be exempt from questioning