A Week at Te Akau Stud

Our recent (and very welcome) guest David McCarthy writes:

Life, as Forrest Gump famously said, is just a box of chocolates.

My week at Te Akau Stud was supposed to be rest and restoration, relaxing with friends old and new - mostly old.  There was a farewell planned for a good friend Sam Boyd, whose association with David went back to his pioneer Te Akau days. Not to mention a few rugby tests, some exciting boat races, the odd lunch .....you know the drill.

There is no place like Te Akau for rest and restoration. Warm hospitality; a beautiful sweeping skyline, show-ring quality sheep and cattle heads down in the green pastures and of course, world class bloodstock  roaming free, alert to the slightest upset in the farm  routine. Karyn's three dogs Molly, Karaka and Tom seem a natural part of the scene. That was the background to the week I pictured unfolding. The curtain fell quite differently.

It turned out not one of those weeks but one of THOSE weeks. Rest and recreation became   excitement and celebration as the Te Akau thoroughbreds and their enthusiastic clientele of owners took centre stage - along with another syndicate of note, Team New Zealand-to produce one of the more stunning sporting weeks of recent times.

The flame was fed by the  rugby tests on Saturday though the All Blacks winning and Aussies losing seems the status quo these days. Sunday night was Sam's farewell at Te Akau which was so successful it swept some people, and an attractive vase, right off their feet. 

Irish Rebel posted number one of what would be eight wins in six days, seven of those in New Zealand, running straight and true and looking like a horse now ready to fulfil what was once enormous potential. 

Monday started as a struggle.  A late scratching from a farewell golf game with Sam, “on veterinary advice'' I maintained, though I suspect Sam might have been a little relieved too.  “Peaking'' three nights in a row was getting beyond my advancing years.

Then Monday provided a Te Akau double header at Taupo. Wolfwhistle, a potential star if he can breathe easily at high speed, plus the magic Spellbinder conjured up, raised the prospect of another bigger party this year at Riccarton Park in November. The adrenalin rush was back. A cigar and a fine wine seemed the best way to calm it.

Tuesday wasn't quite the recovery mode expected either. Former Cantabrians Peter and Dawn Williams made their first visit to Te Akau guided by Joe Walls.  Another drive around the farm which is one of the best tourist trips even a city boy can have. The visit was for lunch though it has been a while since I was at one which ended after dark. We poured “Jelly” (as Peter is fondly known) into the passenger seat around 9.30pm and I staggered off to freshen up for the Te Rapa races on Wednesday. This is a holiday?

Wednesday went from the feel good to the fantastic with a treble of Te Akau wins. King's Rock wins his debut and the pleasure of the owners willing to put up big bucks to race what they hope will be the next Darci Brahma was almost as great to watch as to have actually experienced it. Well, almost.

Their million dollar thrill though was no greater than Karyn's when Enhance, which she bred and co-owns with daughters Lydia and Julia Rose and cleverly ridden by the newest stable apprentice Michael Dee, won well enough to come into classic contention herself.  Karyn's timing, as usual, was immaculate this being long serving Waikato Racing Club Chairman's Dave Smith's farewell day and so his replacement Karyn's sort of “pre  nuptial'' for that position.

Meanwhile Alchemy's Flight had posted the second winner of the day.  It was also great to see a horse win earlier in the colours of the late Herbie Dyke - he would have loved being at Te Akau last week!

I was also rapt for Jason, a key man in the Te Akau team. Training $1.7m yearlings is never easy for the calmest of temperaments and getting them to win first up after a few setbacks must have given him and Pam Gerard who has been closely associated with the colt, special satisfaction.

Saturday was boat racing and rugby day - in theory. But after a week mostly celebrating the success of others, David took another winning turn as an owner when Thrive set Saturday on fire, winning the Merial Mile at Awapuni on Saturday.

A $70,000 Group Three race win which increased her value tenfold for David and Ken Browne was a great climax. David had spied her in a paddock and Ken agreed to go half shares for a sum a fraction of what she is worth today. Sale rings don't hold all the answers for a man this versatile!  No wonder the champers was rolling out again!

Home for a rest - but already looking forward to more weeks of wonder at Te Akau.

What a week! What a memorable week!

Back