NORTH EAST AND GOULBURN MURRAY
Part of the Farmer Group Rural Newspapers Covering Victoria Published since 1986
DECEMBER, 2017
SOLAR
PAGES 16-17
www.farmernews.com.au
FIRE AWARENESS
END OF YEAR MACHINERY GUIDE
PAGES 26-27
PAGES 28-29
New Zealand’s Luptons are race-industry legends The Channel Seven cameras were there, flashing in the dark, capturing what they thought was a leg problem.” - LEON LUPTON LEON Lupton is the kind of man you want around the campfire. He has more stories than he has time to tell – tales of horses, of underdogs, of family connections and of days gone by. Now based on a sheep farm out of Mansfield, the Luptons are still legendary in the New Zealand racing industry – salt of the earth farmers that happen to know a thing or two about bloodlines, and how to make a horse run. Last month was the 156th running of the Melbourne Cup. In 1983, Ewen “Snowy” Lupton shipped his gelding, Kiwi, across the Tasman in time to take out the race that stops a nation. Snowy, Leon’s uncle, was just one of many Luptons cheering the chestnut on as he rounded the home stretch almost 40 metres behind the leader – with 150 metres to go, he charged from 10th position and took home the cup with a length to spare. “That was a big weekend,” Leon recalled.
LEGENDS GONE BY: Last month, the race that stopped a nation played out in Melbourne. In 1983, a little known horse from New Zealand, Kiwi, stunned Australia when he came from tenth place to take home the cup. Kiwi was trained by the Lupton family, some of who now farm out of Mansfield. Pictured is Kiwi with owner/trainer, Snowy Lupton. PHOTO: Chris Miller
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“It was the first ownertrained New Zealand horse to win the cup – I think he might still hold that record.” In 1984, Kiwi returned to contest his title – but was forced to scratch just days leading up to the race. “I tell you what, that’s a bloody story,” Leon said. “Snowy only had Kiwi over a few weeks before the race, and he kept him boxed at night. “One night, he knocked his leg – took off a bit of hair, so Snowy rubbed a bit of Vaseline on it to keep the skin soft.” In a move that would ultimately seal Kiwi’s fate, the horse’s leg was wrapped in a red crepe bandage and then taken out for a public working at the Waverly track. “Everybody wanted to see him, wanted to know what kind of form he was in,” Leon said. “But when Snowy pulled off the bandage, the dye had soaked into the Vaseline – it looked horrible, like there was blood everywhere.
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