Cream rises to top for early-rising Waverley couple

It’s a busy life in the Moss-Lupton household.

The alarm goes off at 3.45am every day for Waverley trainer Joanne Moss and her partner, jumps jockey Isaac Lupton, in preparation for a busy day that includes milking 300 cows on their South Taranaki farm.

‘‘We milk twice a day and it’s only Isaac, his dad and I, so it’s a pretty busy life here,’’ she said.

Moss has been training since the turn of the century, but admits it has become more of a hobby in recent years, with cows taking more of her time.

‘‘The horses fit around the cows, it just keeps us busy,’’ she said.

Their schedule has been even busier of late, with calving season well under way and Lupton travelling to ride across the country.

‘‘We have just got a few to calve, we are nearly finished, so that will make life a little easier when it’s over. They are some long days,’’ Moss said. ‘‘Then you go and do the horses and when Isaac is riding it gets even harder again.’’

While it has been a hectic time of late for Moss, she has been enjoying campaigning promising 5-year-old Herengawe. The son of Zed, who was bred and is owned by Lupton, has won five of his career starts and will be looking to add a first stakes victory to his tally in the Group III Boehringer Ingelheim Metric Mile (1600m) at Awapuni today.

Herengawe placed in the Listed Opunake Cup (1400m) in July and Moss is hopeful heading into today after two recent runner-up performances, including a strong run last Saturday to finish behind Back In A Flash over 1400m at Ellerslie.

‘‘I thought it was a good run, he went well,’’ Moss said.

‘‘I only put him in on Saturday because he did so well when he came home.

‘‘He’s a handy horse and is as honest as anything. He is really laidback and is a nice horse.

‘‘We had a few offers for him earlier on, but we wanted to have a bit of fun with him.’’

TAB bookmakers have installed Herengawe as a $6.50 second favourite for the mile feature behind Group III Winter Cup (1600m) winner Dez at $4.80, but Moss said she would have liked to have seen more rain in the leadup to today.

‘‘It’s not a bad field,’’ she said. ‘‘He’s pretty honest, but I would be a lot happier if it was raining a bit more.’’

NZ Racing Desk