A horse emerged out of a small Taranaki town and in an incredible moment turned from farm hack to Cup legend

Ewen "Snowy Lupton was a humble farmer with a voice like gravel and a laid back, old school nature. Snow, his nickname from a young boy with blond hair, had farmed the same land taken over from his father in Waverley and did things his way, from mixing stock work on his Waverley farm to rather unconventional horse training methods. Lupton's wife, Anne paid $1000 for Kiwi by Blarney Kiss (USA) out of the dam Malrayvas as a yearling. Snowy did the bidding and Anne thought there must be something wrong with him for certain at that price. Anne named him Kiwi, but Snow didn't think it was a very good name for a racehorse, as far as he believed they were slow birds that couldn't fly....Little did he know.

Initially, Kiwi was used to help round up sheep on their farm in Waverley, South Taranaki, driving up and down hills to build up stamina. Snow identified that the young horse showed real promise as a distance runner, and so began the training. Kiwi continued to round up sheep as part of his conditioning routine and won his 2nd start, a 1200m race at Stratford, then went on to win a handicap over 1600m at Opunake. Jimmy Cassidy rode the horse when he won the Farewell Hcp (2200m) at Marton in 1982, then they combined to win the Waverley Cup (2175m). The Lupton's entered him in the Wellington Cup (3200m) at Trentham Racecourse in January 1983. In that race, Kiwi settled at the rear of the field, waiting until the home straight to make his move, flying home to take the win. It was a foreboding sign of things to come for the chestnut gelding. Kiwi's staying form was confirmed further when later in the year (1983) he claimed the Egmont Cup (2100m) only 15 days prior to the big one. In contrast to his Melbourne Cup competitors who underwent extensive training, Kiwi had a unique preparation for the race, enjoying a tranquil existence in a Mornington Peninsula paddock. There, he leisurely grazed alongside cattle and sheep, reminiscent of his native homeland environment. His pre-race training consisted of a customary light workout on pasture and a few casual laps around the farm's track to loosen him up.

JIMMY “THE PUMPER” CASSIDY

Cassidy, then a 20-year-old virtual unknown in Australia was yet to move to Sydney from New Zealand but would quickly rise to fame on the Australian turf. For all but the final 600m of the 3200m race that stops a nation, Cassidy and Kiwi sat dead last, close to 40m behind the leaders. Officially the chestnut gelding sat 23rd of the 24 runners from the start of the final turn as Cassidy looked up to see a massive wall of horseflesh, but knew this renowned swooper could mow them all down if he could just weave a path through. Jimmy tells the story in his own indefinitive style:

“At about the mile he was leading on the wrong leg. The ground was popping and moving underneath him a bit, but once he got to the bend he started galloping right again. When we straightened up he got on the bit. I just slapped him behind the ear and said, "Let’s go, old son"

"We were dead last on the corner, 10th by the time I got to the clock tower. A hundred out he was coming and 50 to go he was a length and a half in front".

"Kiwi horse, Kiwi jockey, and the horse is named Kiwi, it's unbelievable" - Jimmy Cassidy

Cassidy switched course at least twice to gouge a path through the tiring field and win, the horse just flew late, bolting away with ears pricked in an astounding finish the likes of no one had ever seen before in the great race. Kiwi had just triumphed in one of the greatest Melbourne Cup finishes in the race's 152-year history. Snow Lupton famously claimed after the race, "I didn't have a penny on him. I never bet much, but I had bet nothing on him." The Lupton's said it was the greatest thrill of their lives and back home at the Waverley Hotel they celebrated for days on end. Their son, Warrick Lupton broke his leg in four places falling down the hotel stairs after going at it too hard. Anne attended the lavish after Cup function while Snow took his horse back to the stables. But that was Snowy Lupton - quiet, unassuming.

The pride of Waverley was controversially scratched by VRC's chief vet on the eve of the 1984 Cup when looking a moral to go back-to-back with claims of bad sportsmanship from the other side of the Tasman. "He would of pissed in" Cassidy claimed. A mere three weeks later he represented New Zealand in the Japan Cup (2400m), running a creditable fifth, proving there was nothing amiss with the horse. He returned to Melbourne for the 1985 Cup, finishing 5th, unplaced in the 1986 version. He also placed in the Sandown Cup and was the only horse to win the Wellington/Melbourne Cup double.

He retired after a long career of 69 starts for 13 wins. and $310,000 Stakes earnings from the Melbourne Cup races. The Lupton name still descends on in New Zealand racing with Snow's granddaughter, Jamie Lee Lupton training out of Waverley, having already won the Wellington Cup like her Grandad with Soleseifei (by Shocking) carrying the famous Kiwi colours in 2020. Forty years after Kiwi’s remarkable dash to victory in the 1983 Melbourne Cup, a lifesize statue of the great Waverley horse was recently unveiled in his home town.

Snowy Lupton passed away in 2004 aged 84. Kiwi died in 1995 and is buried on the Lupton's Waverly farm. The headstone simply reads; KIWI, 1983 Melbourne Cup

RACE RECORD - 60: 13-8-2

EARNINGS - NZ$549,839

1983 Melbourne Cup

1983 Wellington Cup