---

---

The Turnbull Stakes is a Group 1 race for staying types held in early October at Flemington Racecourse.

The Turnbull Stakes originally ran on the same Saturday as the Epsom Handicap at Randwick, but Victorian Racing Club (VRC) rescheduled the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival program to account for the AFL Grand Final in Victoria. Offering $500,000 in prize money, the Turnbull Stakes is the marquee race at the meeting.

There are four other Group status races on the Turnbull Stakes Day card with the Group 2 Edward Manifold Stakes (1600m), the Group 2 Blazer Stakes (1400m), Group 2 Gilgai Stakes (1200m) and the Group 3 The Bart Cummings (2500m) for Caulfield Cup types.

The Turnbull Stakes is for four-year-old entries and up run under set weight conditions plus penalties. Offering a generous prize purse of over $500,000 this 2000m middle-distance event always attracts an elite field of highly competitive runners, many of which use the race as a key lead-up to the carnival’s feature races including the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.

Since being awarded Group 1 status however, the Turnbull Stakes is now seen as a premier race in its own right and not simply a preparatory race. As the first quality middle-distance race at the carnival, the Turnbull Stakes provides stayers with a chance to run over the more suitable 2000m building up to the longer 2400m and 3200m races later in the spring.

In past years the Turnbull Stakes has proven a truly excellent guide to the spring feature races, with the Turnbull Stakes providing a number of Melbourne Cup , Caulfield Cup winners and Cox Plate winners. The Turnbull Stakes paired with any of these three later events makes for some great betting doubles throughout the carnival. Champion mare Winx completed the Turnbull Stakes – Cox Plate double in both 2017 and 2018.

Trainer Chris Waller made it four wins on the trot in the Turnbull Stakes results with Kings Will Dream saluting in 2019 followed by Verry Elleegant in 2020.

The 2020 Turnbull Stakes ran on Saturday October 3, 2020 with an all-Waller trifecta led by Verry Elleegant.

2020 Turnbull Stakes
Date:	Saturday October 3, 2020
Track:	Flemington Racecourse
Distance:	2000m
Conditions:	4YO & Up – Set Weights + Penalties
Status:	Group 1
Prize Money:	$500,000
Inaugurated:	1948

2020 Turnbull Stakes Results

• 1st: #9 Verry Elleegant
• 2nd: #15 Toffee Tongue
• 3rd: #12 Finche

Verry Elleegant ($5F) dug deep to salute for the punters in the 2020 Turnbull Stakes results handing trainer Chris Waller his fourth straight success in the event and leading a trifecta for the stable beating home her fellow Group 1 winning stablemate Toffee Tongue ($71) and Finche ($5.50).

Click here to read more on the gutsy 2020 Turnbull Stakes winner Verry Elleegant.

Colour	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	9	VERRY ELLEEGANT (NZ)	Chris Waller	Mark Zahra		9	55.5kg		$5F
	2	15	TOFFEE TONGUE (NZ)	Chris Waller	Michael Dee	0.1L	2	53.5kg		$71
	3	12	FINCHE (GB)	Chris Waller	Ben Melham	0.2L	15	54.5kg		$5.50
	4	5	DALASAN	Leon Macdonald & Andrew Gluyas	Jamie Kah	0.3L	3	56.5kg		$20
	5	6	MASTER OF WINE (GER)	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Michael Rodd	0.8L	4	56.5kg		$6
	6	4	WARNING	Anthony & Sam Freedman	Billy Egan	1L	7	56.5kg		$61
	7	14	SUPERSTORM	Grant & Alana Williams	William Pike	2L	12	53.5kg		$8
	8	11	HARLEM (GB)	Tom Dabernig & Ben Hayes	Jamie Mott	2.2L	11	54.5kg		$21
	9	3	SURPRISE BABY (NZ)	Paul Preusker	Craig Williams	2.4L	1	57.5kg		$6
	10	2	KINGS WILL DREAM (IRE)	Chris Waller	Jye McNeil	2.5L	8	57.5kg		$21
	11	13	DJANGO FREEMAN (GER)	Robert Hickmott	Luke Nolen	2.7L	6	54.5kg		$26
	12	1	VOW AND DECLARE	Danny O’Brien	Damien Oliver	2.8L	10	57.5kg		$26
	13	7	KING OF LEOGRANCE (FR)	Danny O’Brien	Damian Lane	4.55L	14	56.5kg		$21
	14	10	OCEANEX (NZ)	Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr)	Dean Yendall	4.65L	13	55.5kg		$91
	15	8	AKTAU (GB)	Michael Moroney	Daniel Moor	14.65L	5	56.5kg		$71

Table Credit: Racing Australia. 

2020 Turnbull Stakes Odds & Betting

The Turnbull Stakes 2020 betting markets and updated odds from Ladbrokes.com.au will be available below as soon as released.

Verry Elleegant ($5 in 2020) was the last Turnbull Stakes favourite to salute for the punters.

2020 Turnbull Stakes Field

The Turnbull Stakes field attracts a quality line-up of spring gallopers each year coming via a host of different lead-up races including the Group 1 Underwood Stakes (1800m) run the Sunday prior at Caulfield.

Plenty of runners come into the Turnbull Stakes field off a Sydney campaign and in 2015 and 2016 both champions of the Flemington Group 1 won the Group 2 Hill Stakes at Randwick in the lead-up with Preferment and Hartnell respectively doing the double.

Four-time Cox Plate hero won the 2017 and 2018 editions of the Turnbull Stakes on the back of her back-to-back Group 1 George Main Stakes victories in Sydney.

The official Turnbull Stakes 2020 Final Field & Barriers will be announced on the Wednesday of race week and published in full below.

The 2020 Turnbull Stakes field features 15 hopefuls including the reigning Melbourne Cup winner Vow And Declare, all-in favourite for the ‘race that stops a nation’ in 2020 Surprise Baby and Chris Waller’s top elect Verry Elleegant looking to return to form in Melbourne.

Click here to read more on the key chances in the Turnbull Stakes 2020 field and betting markets.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL 2020 TURNBULL STAKES DAY SCRATCHINGS & TRACK REPORT

No	Last 10	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	x421x395x9	VOW AND DECLARE	Danny O’Brien	Damien Oliver	10	57.5kg		113
2	6x32050x30	KINGS WILL DREAM (IRE)	Chris Waller	Jye McNeil	8	57.5kg		109
3	4132x415x2	SURPRISE BABY (NZ)	Paul Preusker	Craig Williams	1	57.5kg		108
4	1x755633x7	WARNING	Anthony & Sam Freedman	Billy Egan	7	56.5kg		103
5	555112×235	DALASAN	Leon Macdonald & Andrew Gluyas	Jamie Kah	3	56.5kg		103
6	311x114x04	MASTER OF WINE (GER)	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Michael Rodd	4	56.5kg		106
7	349x211x2x	KING OF LEOGRANCE (FR)	Danny O’Brien	Damian Lane	14	56.5kg		103
8	2x1x1311x9	AKTAU (GB)	Michael Moroney	Daniel Moor	5	56.5kg		100
9	0x42212x14	VERRY ELLEEGANT (NZ)	Chris Waller	Mark Zahra	9	55.5kg		115
10	1x07511x00	OCEANEX (NZ)	Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr)	Dean Yendall	13	55.5kg		105
11	80x4549x76	HARLEM (GB)	Tom Dabernig & Ben Hayes	Jamie Mott	11	54.5kg		107
12	34x51257x3	FINCHE (GB)	Chris Waller	Ben Melham	15	54.5kg		110
13	2x122x33x2	DJANGO FREEMAN (GER)	Robert Hickmott	Luke Nolen	6	54.5kg		98
14	154x122x90	SUPERSTORM	Grant & Alana Williams	William Pike	12	53.5kg		104
15	x622221x58	TOFFEE TONGUE (NZ)	Chris Waller	Michael Dee	2	53.5kg		100

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

2020 Turnbull Stakes Nominations

The 2020 Turnbull Stakes nominations are released by Racing Victoria on the Monday leading-up to Turnbull Stakes Day.

Turnbull Stakes History

Named in honour of the incumbent VRC Chairman Mr. Richard Turnbull, the Turnbull Stakes was first run in 1948 when Beau Gem claimed victory. It was originally a 12 furlong (approx. 2400m) Principal race up until 1972 when the distance was changed to the shorter length of 2000m with Australia’s adoption of the metric system. The race was run as a handicap event through until 1963 when weight-for-age conditions were adopted until 1970 when eventually the Turnbull Stakes became a set weights plus penalties race. In 1979 the event was elevated to Group 2 status and remained the same until 2006 when it was installed as a Group 1 event following the win of the infamous Makybe Diva in 2005.

Notable winners of the Turnbull Stakes include Rising Fast (1954), Galilee (1968), Super Impose (1989), Let’s Elope (1991), Naturalism (1992), Sunline (2000), Northerly (2002) and Efficient (2009). In 2012 Green Moon won the Turnbull Stakes before taking out the ‘race that stops the nation’ with a Melbourne Cup victory two starts later on the first Tuesday of November.

To most famous recent Turnbull Stakes winner was Winx who won her Flemington debut in the race in 2017 by six and a half lengths and then successfully defended her Turnbull Stakes title in 2018.

Turnbull Stakes Records
Multiple Winners:	Comic Court (1949 & 1950), Vo Rogue (1987 & 1988), Winx (2017 & 2018).
Most Successful Jockeys:	Two jockeys have won four Turnbull Stakes. Harry White with Lefroy (1978), No Peer (1981), Birchwood (1982) and Just Now (1986). R. Higgins with Sir Dane (1964), Galilee (1968), Leilani (1974) and Denise’s Joy (1976).

Recent Turnbull Stakes Winners

Year	Place	Horse	Time
2020 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Verry Elleegant	2 minutes 1.84 seconds
	2nd	Toffee Tongue
	3rd	Finche
2019 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Kings Will Dream	2 minutes 3.54 seconds
	2nd	Finche
	3rd	Hartnell
2018 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Winx	2 minutes 1.60 seconds
	2nd	Youngstar
	3rd	Kings Will Dream
2017 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Winx	2 minutes 2.07 seconds
	2nd	Ventura Storm
	3rd	Humidor
2016 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Hartnell	2 minutes 1.03 seconds
	2nd	Jameka
	3rd	Tally
2015 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Preferment	2 minutes 1.34 seconds
	2nd	Royal Descent
	3rd	Set Square
2014 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Lucia Valentina	2 minutes 1.84 seconds
	2nd	Lidari
	3rd	Brambles
2013 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Happy Trails	2 minutes 2.94 seconds
	2nd	Puissance De Lune
	3rd	Fawkner
2012 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Green Moon	2 minutes 2.11 seconds
	2nd	Seville
	3rd	December Draw
2011 Turnbull Stakes	1st	December Draw	2 minutes 3.98 seconds
	2nd	Glass Harmonium
	3rd	Playing God
2010 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Zipping	2 minutes 3.23 seconds
	2nd	Shocking
	3rd	Shoot Out
2009 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Efficient	2 minutes 1.6 seconds
	2nd	Predatory Pricer
	3rd	Scenic Shot
2008 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Littorio	2 minutes 2.4 seconds
	2nd	Master O’Reilly
	3rd	Zipping
2007 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Devil Moon	2 minutes 3.4 seconds
	2nd	Scenic Shot
	3rd	Haradasun
2006 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Sphenophyta	2 minutes 1.9 seconds
	2nd	Our Smoking Joe
	3rd	Aqua D Amore
2005 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Makybe Diva	2 minutes 1.5 seconds
	2nd	Lad Of The Manor
	3rd	Confectioner
2004 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Elvstroem	2 minutes 0.4 seconds
	2nd	Mummify
	3rd	Confectioner
2003 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Studebaker	2 minutes 4 seconds
	2nd	Pentastic
	3rd	Strasbourg
2002 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Northerly	2 minutes 2.3 seconds
	2nd	Dash For Cash
	3rd	Fields Of Omagh
2001 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Sunline	2 minutes 3.9 seconds
	2nd	Universal Prince
	3rd	Primrose Sands
2000 Turnbull Stakes	1st	Fairway	2 minutes 2.2 seconds
	2nd	Sunline
	3rd	Diatribe