Te Akau Saturday Update

David writes:

Firstly - Karyn and I, together with Mark and Sam and the whole Te Akau team send our heartfelt sympathies to the O'Sullivan and Chittick families with the news of Dave (DJ) O'Sullivan's passing yesterday.  I was so terrible upset for the whole family when I received the call yesterday - our industry has lost a true legend, and the family, a wonderful, loved and hugely respected father and grandfather - family meant to world to Dave.

I was really privileged to be invited to Dave's 90th birthday celebrations last year and what a memorable and treasured occasion that will always be - he was in terrific form.

Dave was best mates with the late Bill Ford, who was my very first trainer.  I learnt so much from the both of them, lessons about training and life, that I will never forget.  Rest In Peace great man!

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WOW it has been a full on, hectic month for everyone at Te Akau!  Sydney races, Sydney sales, the retirement of Imperatriz, racing in Australia, across New Zealand - north and south, and Singapore.  Never a dull moment for this team, including our farm team who are as busy as ever!

Our stable in New Zealand has been on fire and last Wednesday Mark and Sam and the team won another three races ... taking our domestic tally to 142 wins, and 100 second- and 110 third placings.  The team has won $7,365,651 in prize money in New Zealand alone for our owners too.

A really important factor too is the team's strike rate - it's incredible with approximately every 2.2 runners paying a dividend.

In New Zealand we have won 20 Group/Listed races, and Mark and our Cranbourne team have recorded nine - of these 29 black type races, nine have been at Group 1 level.

Across our three stables this season we have now won well over $15 million and this gives us all great pride - we love nothing more than winning races for our owners, the loyal and passionate people who choose to be involved with our stable - we truly appreciate their support.

So far this year we have purchased 54 yearlings for a total spend of $19,505,712 - we have now sold over $17 million of these yearlings, and not one day passes when we do not sell more shares.  The interest in investing with Te Akau, not just from New Zealand and Australia, but also globally, has been huge and we feel very honoured to be the stable of choice for our owners.

We have purchased yearlings from the Magic Millions' Gold Coast sale, the Karaka yearling sale, Inglis Melbourne sale and Inglis Sydney Easter sale.  It is just incredible the quality of yearlings that we still have shares available in, so if you want to be involved and have fun with Te Akau - please feel free to call me on +64 21 925151 or email Karyn at any time on [email protected] - as you know she keeps some long hours!

The main picture above is of a stunning Savabeel filly out of Summer School that we purchased from the same sale as Imperatriz.  Even though she was bought on the Gold Coast, as she is NZ bred, she will be eligible for The Kiwi Slot race too.

She has a simply wonderful pedigree - her half sister is already a Group 2 winner and is multiple Group placed in Sydney, while her full sister has already won four races.  The family boasts Group 1 winners across the globe - of special note, her second dam is a three quarter sister to the magnificent sire Galileo.

This filly has broken in superbly and is now in the stable - it's surprising there are still some shares available in her as Savabeel fillies are like gold - and with a pedigree like this, it's also all about her residual value.

Check her out here, she's one you shouldn't miss:

https://www.teakauracing.com/yearling/lot-257-savabeel-summer-school-bay-filly

I know we have said it before but it is true - it is just incredible how successful some of our last horses to sell have been, and the number of Group 1 races they have won really is staggering.  Imperatriz (10); Avantage (9); Karaka Million and Group 1 winner (now sire) Cool Aza Beel; Group 1, 2 and 3 winner Sword Of Osman and many others.  Imperatriz remained unsold into July of her year!

This weekend we have horses racing in Melbourne and Adelaide in Australia, and Hamilton (Te Rapa), Wanganui and Wingatui in New Zealand, plus Saturday in Singapore where Artillery competes in the S$150,000 Group 2 3YO Classic.

Good luck to all of our owners!

One question we get asked frequently is where is Imperatriz and how is she ... she is in a beautiful, safe paddock here at Te Akau Stud with Captured By Love who had a terrific 2YO season winning two Group 2 races, a Group 3 and being twice third in both Group 1 contests.  Captured By Love in fact won her first four starts including the Group 2 Matamata Breeders' Stakes.

I've told Imperatriz to explain to her paddock-pal Captured By Love how to win those big races in Melbourne!  

This season, Imperatriz has won more Group 1 races than any other horse in the world and is also the highest rated sprinter in the world - that's quite an achievement.  We will be outlining the details of her future in the coming week.

The farm has never been in better shape.  I have been living at Te Akau since 1979 and I have never seen better quality grass than what we have currently, and boy, the stock is thriving.

We sent two truck and trailers of steers off to be processed this week with the first making $1,977 +GST and the second coming in at $1,900 +GST.  We only have two more units to sell in the next couple of weeks.

We were due to finish shearing yesterday but in the morning we had 15mls of rain so the sheep were too wet to shear meaning we are finishing them today.

Good luck to all owners with runners this weekend ... GO THE TANGERINE!