by But among Winston Churchill’s crew, who had taken refuge on another life raft, three men died: John Dean, James Lawler and Michael Bannister.
“I think about it every year when the race happens,” Lumtin said. “We all struggled with it for a few years after it happened and we all had quite a bit of trauma. We all make it in our own way.
“It was hard. We lost three people from our boat and these waves are not something you like to see.
Paul Lumtin, who survived the tragic journey from Sydney to Hobart in 1998, pictured in front of Everest with his horse Storm Boy, which he partly owns.Credit: Nick Moir
“I am a very happy man.”
On Saturday, a horse he himself named Lumtin and bought when it was run into the beer garden of a western Sydney pub will try to bring even more luck to a Sydney-to-Hobart surviving miracle than he did on Everest at the Royal Randwick attended.
Lumtin previously owned only a few racehorses. But when he organized a luncheon for business people last year, he wrote to trainer Gai Waterhouse to ask if she would address the gathering. His other option was boxer Jeff Fenech.
Initially, Lumtin received no response from Waterhouse. He tried again.
Then Waterhouse’s staff told him that she didn’t give many lectures these days. Until his last chance, Lumtin only invited Waterhouse to lunch, with no formal speaking role, just to spend some time with a few racing enthusiasts.
“She wrote to me and said, ‘Can I bring some horses?’ I said, ‘I guess so,'” laughs Lumtin.
“A buddy of mine who owns the Log Cabin [at Penrith]he’s also in the group, I called him and said, “Can we bring some horses to the beer garden because Gai wants to do a little parade?”
“He said, ‘Yeah, okay. “We won’t tell anyone about this, but we can do it.” ”
Gai Waterhouse talks to drinkers in the Log Cabin beer garden about Storm Boy.
True to her word, Waterhouse brought two horses to the pub in a transport wagon: one a filly and the other a colt by stallion Justify, whom she wanted to add at the last minute.
While Waterhouse was talking about the filly, the businessmen couldn’t help but hear the noise the noisy filly was making in the truck. When he entered the beer garden, they were thrilled. A group of them was asked to have a 20 percent share.
“It was just fantastic and I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” laughs Lumtin. “I know Gai’s people were horrified when they found out what she did.
“She walked the filly and it was kind of a parade. Then you see him in the flesh and he’s a monster of a horse. Everyone’s jaw just dropped. We were like, “Holy shit, that’s a racehorse.” ”
Lumtin and his syndicate quickly moved to find the money, buying a 20 percent stake that day for about $60,000. They later sold part of their stake to global breeding giant Coolmore, but retain a smaller stake in Storm Boy.
“If you imagine that someone can go to the bar, have a drink and walk away, only to sell the horse six months later for $26 million … you can’t imagine that happening anywhere else in the world,” Waterhouse said.
Load
Storm Boy, named by Lumtin after the Australian film about a lonely boy and his pelicans (the stallion’s mother is named Pelican), will be one of two runners for Waterhouse and assistant coach Adrian Bott in Everest, the $20 million Race that will take place will be in front of what is expected to be a record-breaking crowd.
Organizers are waiting for advice on whether King Charles III. will attend the meeting as part of his royal tour, having been invited to watch a race named in his honor as well as the Everest, the world’s richest horse race on turf.
“I have to pinch myself, I’m actually involved in a horse race in Everest,” says Lumtin. “This is unbelievable. I pinch myself about Storm Boy, I pinch myself because I survived Sydney to Hobart and even at my age I still don’t know how I got through and survived.
“It’s one of the mysteries of life.”
