RIP

Geoff Turnbull, Elwick Stud: 1946-2020

ALOVE THAT began with the pit ponies his father tended took Geoff Turnbull MBE, the late founder of GT Engineering, around the world, from a north-eastern mining village all the way to the Breeders’ Cup and Royal Ascot and then back home, where he built Elwick Stud around stallion Mondialiste, whose first yearlings will come under the hammer in the autumn.

A singular man who began his career at the age of 15 as an apprentice toolmaker in the engineering division of Castrol Oil in Hartlepool, Turnbull went on to establish GT Group, a global firm involved in a diverse range of engineering activities based at Peterlee, Durham.

From 1983 he developed the engineering business into a world leader designing engineering solutions to combat emissions from diesel engines with a customer list of household names such as Volvo, JCB, Daimler, Scania and John Deere.

GT Group developed into five businesses designing and manufacturing products, that include the emissions reduction systems for engines and industry, as well as coupling systems for transferring hazardous liquids, oils and gases. He was awarded an MBE for services to the UK’s export industry in 1991 and asked by then Prime Minister John Major to join the Advisory Committee on Business and Environment, which shaped the direction of GT Group in developing greener technology and environmental engineering solutions.

In 2015, Turnbull was named in The Manufacturer Top 100 report as one of the most inspirational individuals within UK manufacturing.

Turnbull’s loyalty to his home in the north-east and his belief that it had the people and facilities required for building a global business was the driving force behind GT Group’s development into a world-leading industry from its base in Durham, where it employed more than 250 people. It was purchased by the German firm Knorr-Bremse in June 2016 and its founder retired from the company to focus his energies on Elwick Stud.

That loyalty also ensured that when it came to the stud career of his Grade 1 Arlington Million and Woodbine Mile winner Mondialiste there was only ever going to be one place where the son of Galileo would stand.

Turnbull invested heavily in developing the land around Elwick Hall into a stallion station fit for his king.

He bought the son of Galileo, who is a three-parts brother to Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club winner and sire Intello from one of the best Wertheimer families, as a four-year-old at the Arqana Summer Sale of 2014. Mondialiste was brought home to Elwick and tended to by Turnbull until sent into training with David O’Meara.

Geoff Turnbull with his wife Sandra, and, below, the bespoke stallion yard at Elwick Stud designed by Turnbull to accommodate his pride and joy, Mondialiste

Initially thought of as an Ebor prospect, Turnbull’s dreams of racing glory were of the north’s most famous races, but Mondialiste took the couple and their family on a journey around the world and brought the industrialist immense joy

In an interview with International Thoroughbred last autumn, his son Nick said: “The journey began with buying Mondialiste and it all centred around him. The travelling with him was incredible, my parents loved it and they got to do things through him they never would have if it wasn’t for Mondialiste.”

Turnbull bought Sheraton Farm, two miles from his home, and transformed it from an arable enterprise into a state of the art stud farm. It is home now to Elwick Stud and its band of broodmares, with their Mondialiste yearlings and foals.

The navy and pink silks of Geoff and his wife Sandra, which were carried with distinction by Mondialiste and Lord Glitters, whose greatest triumph came in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes, were first carried by La Sylphide in 1999.

Known as Tinsel, the mare was bought as a 1998 Christmas present by Geoff for his wife, whom he met when he moved to the design department at Castrol Oil, where she was a trainee tracer.

La Sylphide won seven races and was placed in 13 more, including the Listed Severals Stakes, and, completing the circle that began with her purchase as a yearling, her daughter Lady Chaparral was amongst the Elwick Stud mares who were sent to Mondialiste in his first season. She has a yearling colt whose DNA combines the cornerstones on which Elwick Stud is founded.

The next step in the project would have seen Turnbull at the yearling sales, buying and selling Mondialiste’s offspring before racing them next season, but sadly that joy was not realised for him after his death from a short illness on July 23 at the age of 74.

Geoff Turnbull is survived by his wife Sandra, sister Edith, children Jacqueline, Darren, Nick and Catherine and his beloved grandchildren. He was buried on Saturday, August 1 after a private service at St Peter’s Chuch in Elwick and a memorial fund in his memory has been established to support the Injured Jockeys Fund. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/geoff-turnbull.