Adam Turnbull

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"Get to the half in a minute, and get home the best you can!"

Adam Turnbull, 28 of Sharon, Wisconsin first began training and driving horses about ten years ago with his grandfather, Wisconsin Harness Racing Hall of Famer, Roy Kline. Although Adam didn't seem to inherit Roy's sometimes gruff demeanor, he did inherit the characteristic smile that Roy would have on the racetrack.

After a trip to Florida where Adam worked under the careful eye of the late Brian Pinkse, he returned to his Wisconsin roots and began working for Hotspur Stables in Waterford, where he got the bulk of his training and driving experience. The one thing these two stables didn't let Adam know was that this sport gets into your veins... it gets in so deep that it will force you to gladly get up at 2 or 3 in the morning (smiling of course!) to ensure that your work is done so you have time to train horses at the end of the day. That's just what he does too. Adam is a young entrepreneur who owns his own semi-truck. This road warrior mostly makes runs to Indiana for a load of steel in hopes of getting back to his newly built Sharon training track in time to jog.

Although Adam is gearing up for a high stakes racing season on the Wisconsin ovals in his quest for Pacer and Driver of the Year honors, he still prefers pari-mutuel racing to fair racing. "I like the fact that the drivers are usually more experienced and the racing is usually more challenging." Turnbull is currently driving at Maywood Park in Chicago, but has also driven at Buffalo Raceway in New York and has hopes of adding Running Aces in Minnesota to his resume this summer.

Although Adam looks up to greats such as John Campbell, Jody Jamieson and Tim Tetrick, he is still in the process of developing his own driving style. He is doing so with great confidence too. He recently scored his first pari-mutuel win at Maywood Park with Just WinIt which I'm sure is the first of many. He's come a long way since bagging his first victory with Duchess Hotspur at Westfield back in 2003.

We caught up with Adam recently and asked him with all this increasing success, what is the one BIG race he would love to win if ever given the chance. Most of us think of races like the Little Brown Jug or the Hambletonian, but not Adam. "I would say the Hambletonian OAKS would be nice...since I seem to only race the girls anyway!" (Translation: The Hambletonian Oaks is for filly trotters only, and it's been a long time since Adam has trained anything but fillies...on and off the track). In fact, Adam sings to his mare Erica's Blossom during their jogging miles. What song does he sing her you ask? "Well, Erica has her own song, but the words change daily!" ...I guess one must sneak into Sharon to find out what that means!

Adam acknowledges that you never stop learning and takes advice from local horsemen as well. Veteran trainer/driver/announcer O.L. "Buck" Weaver gave Adam some pretty good advice one day ..."Get to the half in a minute, and get home the best you can!" Timers, have your watches ready, Adam's on the prowl for those top honors, and just may have the stock this year to get the job done!

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