Bill Turner dead at 78: Legendary horse trainer passes after ‘freak accident’ as his family pay tribute to him who ‘was everyone’s dad’

Bill Turner was described as a man who ‘gave his life to racing’ after he died following a catastrophic accident at his stables.

Turner was the kind of character who enlivened the horseracing industry but he passed away on after failing to recover from an accident on Monday, which left him with a seriously fractured skull.

The 78-year-old, who trained in Sigwell, Somerset was a master at preparing speedy juveniles – he won Doncaster’s Brockleby Stakes, the traditional first race of the flats season on six occasions – and had been sending out winners since February 1979. He had previously been a jump jockey.

The unfortunate incident involved a colt he had been reportedly riding at his Dorset yard. He had been on a ventilator since being rushed to hospital on Monday, but died less than 72 hours later.

His daughter Kathy revealed the news in an emotional interview on Sky Sports Racing: ‘Everyone in racing will miss him. I can’t get round this injury doing this to him.

‘I’ve pulled him out from under horses, he’s been up on roofs just last Sunday – that was him, you’d never change him.

Horse trainer Bill Turner has died at the age of 78 after a ‘freak incident’ that fractured his skull

His daughter Kathy confirmed the news on Thursday in an emotional interview on Sky Sports

‘Dad passed away about an hour-and-a-half ago – we had the phone call while on the way to Chepstow races. He slipped away this morning.

‘The messages and the support from everyone have just been absolutely outstanding.

‘I’ve tried to reply to as many people as I could but I’m so sorry if I haven’t replied.

‘The love that man had – he wasn’t just my dad, he was everyone’s dad. The people he helped all through his years. He was everyone’s dad.

‘He would have preferred to be going flat out up the gallops with something like this.

‘But it was just a freak accident. He was holding onto a cob, not on top of a racehorse going flat out, which he thoroughly enjoyed.’

In his memory, a minute’s silence was held at Salisbury Racecourse on Thursday.

Turner led a colourful life and once made it his ambition t
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