A racing trainer is fighting for his life in hospital after being struck down by a horse at his racing stable. Bill Turner, who celebrated his 78th birthday on Sunday, sustained a severe head injury during the incident at his yard in Dorset yesterday.
The seasoned horseman was rushed to hospital where doctors discovered he had suffered a fractured skull. Presenter Matt Chapman told Sky Sports Racing he had been in contact with Turner's family, whose wife Tracy and daughter Kathy assist in running the stable on the Dorset and Somerset border.
Chapman said: "Bill fell on to his head and fractured his skull. He is in hospital on a ventilator right now and the family will have to make a tough decision in the next 24 to 48 hours on whether to keep the ventilator going. I would urge the racing world to all say a prayer for Bill."
Turner, who cares for 12 horses and possesses a combined licence with the British Horseracing Authority, has produced six winners of the Brocklesby Stakes at Doncaster - the opening two-year-old race of the flat season.
This remarkable streak stretches back to 1996 when Indian Spark triumphed on Town Moor under jockey Tim Sprake, culminating in the record five-length victory of Mick's Yer Man in 2013, ridden by his grandson Ryan While. During that period, Turner's operation enjoyed one of its most prosperous campaigns with 29 winners and nearly £100,000 in prize money.
Additional earnings followed when he sold Mick's Yer Man privately to Hong Kong, where the sprinter was renamed Always Win. Turner has a history of training both flat and jump horses, with a successful track record dating back to 1988. The next horse from the stable expected to race is Red Snapper, in a five furlong nursery at Chepstow on Thursday afternoon.
