A RACING dream came true at Beverley today when a bay filly called Hester Prynne won on her debut.

The two-year-old is the first winner by sire, Mondialiste, who was bought by the late Geoff Turnbull as the foundation stallion for the magnificent Elwick Stud that he established, near Hartlepool.

North-East entrepreneur Mr Turnbull, who sadly died last year, had first fallen in love with horses as a boy when he helped his father look after the pit ponies at Horden Colliery.

He declared that he would own racehorses when he grew up and proved as good as his word after founding the highly successful GT Group of companies.

Mr Turnbull, who passed away last summer at the age of 74, had unswerving faith in Mondialiste after buying the colt as a three-year-old in France. He proved to be a star on the track when trained in North Yorkshire by David O’Meara, with Group 1 victories in the Woodmine Mile, in Canada, and the Arlington Million, in America.

The next stage in Mr Turnbull’s dream was to build a top-class stud, and Mondialiste took up stallion duties at Elwick when he retired from racing after the 2017 season.

Now, Hester Prynne has become his first winner, after staying on well to land the Kiplingcotes Restricted Novices Stakes at the East Yorkshire track. Just like her father, she is trained by David O’Meara and was ridden by Danny Tudhope.

Mr Turnbull’s son Nick, who is now running Elwick Stud, said after the race: “It’s very emotional – and that was always going to be the case when Mondialiste had his first winner. I always knew that my dad’s faith in the horse was well placed – it was just a matter of time.

“I spoke to Danny Tudhope afterwards and he said she’s a really tough filly. He’s ridden a few of Mondialiste’s two-year-olds now and they all had that toughness.

“It’s massive for Mondialiste to get a winner so early on. It’s a brilliant start to his career as a stallion and it bodes well for the others that have gone into training.”

Mondialiste, a son of the great Galileo out of champion racemare Ocuppandiste, has 25 two-year-olds in training, spread around several northern trainers.

Hester Prynne is out of winning mare Dame Hester, who is by Group 1 winner Diktat whose victories included the Haydock Sprint Cup.

She runs in the familiar dark blue and pink colours of Mr Turnbull and his wife, Sandra, whose successes have included Lord Glitters, also trained by David O’Meara, winning the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2019.

The striking grey gelding, one of the most popular horses in training, scored another Group 1 victory last month when winning the Jebel Hatta, at Meydan, last month.