Adrian off at gallop to mould cup fit for winner

Glenn Watson | 9th February 2010

Racing's Wanganui Cup is coming out of retirement.

After a long absence, the trophy will make its comeback at November's Cup meeting.

For the past few years, the winning owners of the Cambridge Thoroughbred Sales Cup have been presented with a rug as a trophy.

A Wanganui Cup without a cup. Not good enough, decided club operations manager Fiona Pickering. She rummaged about and found an impressive antique trophy in storage. But it still needed to be fully restored.

 Enter long-time jeweller Adrian Jackson, who reckons the cup could be 120 years old.

"It has just been lying about at the club and been knocked about,"  said Mr Jackson, who once ran a jewellery-making factory in Putiki.

He will build a wooden base,  then begin working his magic on the rest of it. He expects to hand a brand spanking new gold-plated cup to the club within two months.

Mr Jackson, now 80, was a keen horse man in his day.

He sponsored a number of Wanganui races and estimated he has created at least 50 racing trophies, here and in Melbourne, where he lived for 20 years before settling back in Wanganui five years ago.

He is a lifetime member of the Kelvin Country Club in Victoria.

"I still get to the odd race meeting, but I'm getting on now. Time does catch up with you."