Tributes have been paid to horse trainer Bill Turner who has died two days after fracturing his skull
Horse trainer Bill Turner had been in hospital after being knocked over by a horse at his stable in Somerset.
Legendary horse trainer Bill Turner has died at the age of 78 after suffering a fractured skull after being knocked over by a horse at his stable in Sigwells in Somerset. His daughter Kathy Turner told Sky Sports that she was told the news about his death on her way to Chepstow and said: "He passed away about an hour and a half ago. We had the phone call on the way up in the lorry. I've made the decision a couple of days ago I was coming here, that the horse was to run in Dad's name, in his honour. Whatever had happened, he would have wanted that.
"The messages and the support from everyone has just been absolutely outstanding. The love that man had was absolute. He was everyone's dad, you know, the people that he helped all through his years. They all look at him as a dad.
"It was just a freak accident. He was holding on to the horse. I still can't get around that this injury has done this to him because I've pulled him out from underneath horses on the gallops.
"The thing was racing really for him, didn't earn him a living. It was something that he loved. So we always had to do things on the side to make money, if you know what I mean. To make the yard pay and so we've always had stallions, we've always bred cobs, we always bought and sold.
"Unfortunately, this was we bought six [cobs] a couple of months ago to help someone out – a friend that had a had a divorce – and we were going to go to Worcester sales on Saturday with three of them and we were just getting the one last one in just to tidy them up before we went on Saturday."
The Facebook page for Sky Sports Facing, At The Races, paid tribute to Bill Turner on Instagram and wrote: “we’re sad to learn of the passing of trainer Bill Turner.
“Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.”
Although Bill Turner began his career as a jockey he switched to becoming a horse trainer after breaking his leg. In 2009, he bought a zebra for £1,500 and told the Racing Post that “I always wanted a zebra because everybody said you couldn't train one and I was pig-headed. It isn't easy because they haven't got a brain and everything to them is a predator who's going to come and eat them, but I was sure I could do it.
“After about a fortnight, I thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew. Every time you tried to get a bit in his mouth he'd go for you, so I got him to bite on a broom handle and while he was doing that I slipped the bit over the top, put the bridle on and pulled the broom handle out.
“Once I started long-reining him he just came gradually and I started riding him, all over the place, round the village, although not into the pub as some people reported – I think the landlord would have objected.”