Indiana Turner and the Return Of The Gold Coast Turf

By Jordan Gerrans

Young Gold Coast horseman Indiana Turner is the first to admit he made some mistakes in the early stages of his training career.

The product of the Michael Costa system describes his first couple of seasons as a trainer as ‘character-building’.

In his first four seasons as a trainer, Turner started almost 100 gallopers in a race for just five victories.

The 25-year-old has turned the corner since.

In the first few months of the 2023-24 campaign, he has produced nine winners from 60 starters and is striking at 38 per cent for his gallopers running in the money.

With the Gold Coast Turf Club’s new grass surface set to be officially unveiled this Saturday, Turner is a local trainer to the area keen to get back on the lush green and produce results for his owners.

Reflecting on his own journey as a trainer, Turner says being handed just one horse from his former boss Costa and his owners laid a foundation for the long road that was ahead.

“That set the tone that it was going to be a hard slog and the first year or two was,” he said.

“From where we are now, we started with one owner and now we have more than 250 on the books. We are kicking along really nicely for where we are at. We place them right and get the results.”

Turner worked under Costa’s guidance for almost five years before he relocated overseas.

At his age, Turner is one of the younger trainers in the Sunshine State at a major track with the size of team he has.

He admits he could have done things better in the early years.

“I think we have done quite well with the stock we have,” Turner said.

“It comes with growth and learning, we made a few errors last year and going forward we have refined the processes and simplified things a lot.

“We have tried to be consistent and results have come from that. When we were a smaller team, we were doing too much with them and less is more sometimes.

“The results have shown that and we have aimed to not put all our eggs in one basket with one horse, we need to make sure every horse is getting the care and attention they should be.”

The team have 15 in work and 35 on the books.

Turner recently collected his maiden city winner which came at a Wednesday Ipswich meeting.

It was Fenton – a Capitalist gelding – who provided the maiden metropolitan triumph in maiden grade.

Fenton quickly followed that up with a Benchmark 58 grade victory south of the border.

Of his team of horses set for the return to racing on the grass this Saturday, Turner identified Fenton as his best winning hope.

Fenton is accepted in both the Class 2 Handicap and Benchmark 62 Handicap – which are both over 1200 metres – on Saturday.

Fenton was a cheap $7,000 purchase from Gregory Hickman for Turner’s connections and they are reaping the rewards of the buy.

“He has been a really good horse for the stable and marked our first metropolitan winner this prep,” the trainer said.

“We had to get a few niggling things right with him and we have done that. He looks a strong chance on Saturday after a nice bit of work earlier this week.”

The Gold Coast Turf Club’s first meeting on the new racing surface will comprise seven races with a limit of 12 horses per field. 

The Gold Coast’s main track has been out of action since January, undergoing a rebuild as a part of the Gold Coast tracks and lights project.

As a result, the club’s meetings have been held on the all-weather Polytrack throughout 2023.

Trainers and jockeys gave the new track a big tick of approval after barrier trials on the new grass were held last month.

Officials have given the Gold Coast time to recover from Saturday’s reopening with its next scheduled grass meeting on January 6 when it hosts the $250,000 The Wave.

Big nominations have been received for the first meeting back with 201 horses entered for the seven race program.

Turner nominated seven at the start of the week.

“It is a packed team for us and they are races that suit,” he said.

“There are horses that have been waiting to get on the grass and we have a couple of maideners getting ready to kick-off.

“I am really looking forward to walking them across the road and racing them on a fair even playing surface.

“Hopefully we can get some results on the home track, which is probably the most important thing going forward.”

Turner believes it is an exciting time to be a trainer on the Glitter Strip of Australia.

“The developments at the Turf Club, we are really looking forward to them,” the young trainer said.

“To have the grass back is a significant win for us as it has been down for some time – it is short term pain for long-term gain.

“Going forward it is going to be a strong contender to be a metro track on the Gold Coast and it puts us alongside Doomben, Eagle Farm and the Sunshine Coast.

“The calibre of horses that it is going to draw to the Gold Coast is exciting as well and it keeps everyone stepping up.

“It will attract a higher calibre horse and trainer to the area, which is also good for the local trainers that are here now because it keeps us honest and keeps stepping it all up for us.”