Veteran horseman Gordon Turner passed away in Warragul Hospital on Wednesday evening after a long illness, aged 84.

Gordon had enjoyed great success on his local Gippsland circuit as an owner, trainer and driver since the 1950s.

His father Alf was an accomplished trotting trainer and driver in the pre-war days when the trots were staged in suburban Melbourne at Ascot and Richmond, and up at Woodend.

Gordon always harboured an ambition to follow his father into trotting, and left school at age 13 to begin working at the family stable at Notting Hill.

One task he performed each afternoon as a young lad was to round up the horses for their nightly feed.

Gordon had a bit of talent as a singer and yodeller, and he would walk up the road and yodel to the horses to attract their attention.

The neighbours in the street would have their windows opened ready to hear Gordon as he made his way up the street, in what were gentler, simpler times.

Once he began his own career in the sulky Gordon and his wife June achieved early success with the trotter Rotunda, and pacer Ellen Wilkes.

The Wilkes horses were a mainstay of the Turner stable for years. Gordon worked as a boilermaker, and, in later years when the family relocated to Officer, ran dairy and beef cattle, always alongside a stable of horses.

Gordon produced many "bread and butter" horses from his stable over the years, with horses like Lightning Wilkes, Idle Wilkes, Lord Tassie, The Comacho, Monaveen Lass and others bringing in numerous wins in country and city events.

Idle Wilkes also gave Gordon the distinction of winning the first race on the old Traralgon track in 1975.

Gordon suffered the worst of blows in 1989 when his stables and several valuable horses were destroyed by a deliberately lit fire, however he refused to let the tragedy beat him and soon rebuilt a team of horses.

Further success in more recent times came with horses like Jasville, Cains Hanover, Dancing Magic, Nextville and Spirit Of Magic.

Gordon's daughter Debbie followed her father into trotting and her stable now uses the familiar colours of dark blue with white spots, which have been registered for close to 100 years.

Pictured (top) is Gordon Turner behind Miss Rotafia at a Warragul night meeting in 1977