NOTCHING up his 300th career win as a driver at his home track steering a horse trained by his father - it was certainly a fitting moment for Mitch Turnbull.
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Eight years after he made his driving debut, Turnbull brought up the milestone at the Bathurst Paceway last Wednesday aboard $1.20 favourite Major Braken.
From barrier six aboard the two-year-old gelding trained at The Lagoon by his father Steve, Mitch Turnbull hunted forward and easily found the lead.
He eased the pace off in the middle stages before asking the favourite to give, Major Bracken clocking a 27.6 seconds final sectional to win by 3.3 meters.
The run reminded Turnbull of his first winning drive at the old showground paceway on November 14, 2012 aboard Rainbow Thunder.
"That win was pretty similar to the 300th drive because I led easy, went slow then sprinted home and no-one could get near me," Turnbull said.
With his grandfather Tony 'AD' Turnbull Australia's leading trainer six times, his uncles, aunties, cousins, parents and older siblings involved in harness racing, Mitch Turnbull always aimed to follow in their footsteps.
He's in the main driven for his father Steve - 203 of his wins coming aboard his horses - so that win 300 came with a member of the Radiant Lodge team was fitting.
"Steve has supported me right through and a majority of my wins have been for Steve as a trainer, so it was good to get done there," he said.
"I left school earlier, at the end of Year 9, to work for Steve and have worked for him right through. Usually every year I like to get away from about a month, I've travelled to Perth, Victoria and Queensland, but I've always come back to Steve and he's always looked after me, he's taught me everything I know."
While Turnbull rates his Group 2 win aboard Warrawee Drinking in a NSW Breeders Challenge True Blue Series final as one of his favourite moments thus far, in the main he enjoys any success on his home track. He's had 121 of them.
"I was fortunate about a month ago to win a Group 2 race at Menangle, so that was a nice surprise, but I do really enjoy driving at Bathurst on a Wednesday night and getting wins there because it's home," he said.
"I had a horse, Courtsinsession, that I was driving for 12 months straight and it was just a super horse and that helped me out a lot because he was so competitive.
"It gave me a lot of confidence because he had some good wins and I was able to travel him down to Melbourne, which was a good trip. He only run fourth [in the Free For All], but it was good to do something different."
As for whether or not he intends to follow in the footsteps of his siblings Nathan, Josh and Amanda and train his own team, Mitch thinks that will probably happen in time. But for now he's more than happy to keep driving for his father.
"I probably will [train] one day, but the moment I'm flat out with Steve and helping him, that's how how I'd rather it be anyway," he said.
"I'd rather work for Steve rather than have the pressures of training, I can enjoy and learn from him."
Pressure is something Turnbull said he doesn't really feel and he's happy enough with his siblings being more in the spotlight than himself.
"None of that really bothers me, I only really feel pressure if I have a nice horse in a big race, but Amanda has always been the number one and it hasn't really fazed me if I'm number two or three as long as I get the odd winner," he said.
"It is nice to beat them, but in saying that Amanda and Nathan and Josh have supported me and taught me a lot."