ELWICK STUD AND GEOFF TURNBULL - HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Discover more about Elwick Stud in County Durham, horse racing, our broodmares and Geoff Turnbull MBE.

 OVER 200 ACRES

Set in over 200 acres of beautiful County Durham countryside.

HOME TO OVER 130 HORSES

Providing the highest level of care and attention to Thoroughbreds at each stage of life.

EXPERIENCED TEAM

Our team has a wealth of experience and have worked at some of the top studs in the world.

FOUNDED IN 1998 BY GEOFF TURNBULL MBE

Elwick Stud was established at Sheraton Farm, set in over 200 acres of County Durham countryside and only a mile away from their family residence. Already home to over 80 horses, including a growing band of 35 broodmares. At Elwick Stud foals are raised, yearlings are brought on for sale or prepared to go in to racing and horses out of training are rested. Everything is done as locally as possible, including the sourcing of our day to day materials to ensure we support our local economy; using the same suppliers for feed and straw as when starting in 1998. Elwick Stud aims to breed the very best in equine athletes; a challenging, but achievable goal.

THE HISTORY OF GEOFF TURNBULL

Geoff Turnbull became involved in horse racing after buying his wife Sandra a horse for Christmas in 1998. Nicknamed ‘Tinsel’, La Sylphide raced for Geoff and Sandra from 2000 to 2004 before retiring to become the first broodmare of Elwick Stud. Geoff traced his lifelong love of horses to his father, who was head horse keeper at Horden Colliery in County Durham. He led the ponies out of the mine for the final time in April 1971.


Geoff would head to the yard on a Saturday with his father and watch him care for the pit ponies and would often tell him that one day he would own racehorses. His father called him Walter Mitty and said he was a dreamer. Geoff said, ‘He taught me that if you have the love and respect for a horse, you have a friend for life.’ Geoff and Sandra kept all their horses at their Elwick home, which encompassed stables, foaling boxes, paddocks and a horse walker; until the move to Sheraton Farm in 2014. Elwick Hall is now home to our recently built Stallion Standing Facility, which was established for Mondialiste’s  retirement to stud. It is currently used for horses out of training.

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