Racing: Jockey dubbed 'The Cup King' dies in Hawke's Bay at age 84

John Thomas Anderson shares a lighter moment about riding champion horse Picaroon with his niece, Jenni Hastings, and her husband, Grant, at the Mary Doyle Retirement Village. Photo / File

John Thomas "JT" Anderson, the jockey media and racing aficionado dubbed "The Cup King" at the prime of his thoroughbred career, has died in Hawke's Bay.

The 84-year-old resident of the Mary Doyle Retirement Village in Havelock North, died on Tuesday night.

His funeral will be held at 11am at the Fountains Elliot St, Papakura, in Auckland, on Monday next week.

Last month, Anderson enjoyed a reunion of sorts with former racing industry mates and colleagues John Humphries, 76, of Rotorua, Tony McGovern, 61, of Cambridge, and Trevor "Gripper" Harris, 57, of Matamata, over lunch at a pub in the village.

Two-time Hawke's Bay Gold Cup winner Anderson last July got to get up close and personal with the Emirates Melbourne Cup at the rest home after the 18-carat gold, $183,000 symbol of the world's richest "two-mile" (3200km) race, was paraded through Hawke's Bay.

For someone who had racked up 400 winners, predominantly around the Bay, from the late 1950s to early 1960s, Anderson had been a spectator at the Melbourne Cup three times but never had the pleasure of riding there.

Born in Blackball on the West Coast of South Island to a coal mining family, Anderson left home at 14 for the North Island to carve a racing career after vowing never to end up in a mineshaft like his late father Jack Anderson.

After refining his trade in Matamata and Hamilton for a decade, he moved down to Hastings to work for owner/trainer Keith Couper at Glazebrook, what is now the Ngatarawa winery estate.

During his Hastings stint, the jockey rode three consecutive Ormond Gold Cup winners on the Jack Leith-owned Jack's Corner.

He went on to shake the Queen's hand after winning a race on Moy at the QEII Handicap on February 16, 1963. The late William "Bill" Angus, who operated the Angus Hotel in Hastings, owned Moy.

The consecutive HB Centennial Gold Cup-winning jockey on Bernie (1957) and Birdie (1958), retired from riding at 44 in 1976.

Anderson, who became a builder, eventually retired as an assistant starter (barriers) at Ellerslie Racecourse, Auckland, in 2010.

He is survived by daughter Kaye who lives with husband Mike Child in Hamilton.