Kiwi wins the 1983 Melbourne Cup

Kiwi wins the 1983 Melbourne Cup.

Live television coverage certainly helped raise the profile of the Melbourne Cup in this country – as exemplified by Kiwi’s victory in 1983. Kiwi was last at the turn, and his dash to victory was barely picked up by the commentators until the last few strides

As the field was within sight of the finish, the commentator suddenly yelled, ‘and here comes Kiwi out of the blue’, signalling one of the greatest-ever finishes in the history of the Cup.

Kiwi’s victory was the ultimate Kiwi triumph. Ridden by a New Zealander, Jim Cassidy, he was trained by Waverley’s Snowy Lupton. When he was purchased for $1000 Kiwi was not expected to race, and his original role was ‘to round up sheep on the farm’.