Amy's Time in the Tangerine

Te Akau Racing was proud to recently host the dynamic and talented Godolphin Flying Start scholarship winner Amy Buckley ... she will be a huge asset to the organisations that are smart enough to employ her ...  Amy writes on her "time in the Te Akau tangerine" ...

The Godolphin Flying Start programme has afforded me many life changing opportunities over the past sixteen months, and the externship arranged for me at Te Akau Racing in New Zealand was certainly no exception.

For those of you who may be unsure as to exactly what the Godolphin Flying Start programme entails, it is a two-year scholarship programme generously funded by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Twelve “twenty something year-old” women and men of all nationalities and various walks of life are selected each year from a rigorous application process to be the lucky recipients of this once in a life time scholarship.

Over the two-year period, we spend time in most of the major racing and breeding jurisdictions in the world including Ireland, England, the USA, Australia and Dubai respectively, before returning to Ireland at the end of the two years to finish up. During our time in these countries, we are kindly taken under the wing of the Godolphin teams in each area, whilst also spending time in other leading entities with the intention of garnering a wider network and broader perspective.

Routine days are filled with practical work in various capacities, from foaling mares at WinStar Farm in Kentucky to riding racehorses at the British Racing School, as well as time spent in the classroom learning from the best in the thoroughbred business, or attending universities such as the University of Kentucky, Macquarie University in Sydney or University College Dublin in Ireland who accredit the programme. In three of these locations (the USA, Australia and Ireland), we complete an externship, whereby we spend several weeks working exclusively with one of the best in the industry within an area we plan on pursuing in our future careers. I had the good fortune of spending my Southern Hemisphere externship with Te Akau in New Zealand, and it could not have possibly been a better fit.

These externships begin to take shape about two months before their official start date when we sit down with our course manager Clodagh Kavanagh and begin fleshing out our aims and desires. Of course, we all think about these externships regularly, given many of these have led to employment opportunities for trainees in the past, but when we sit down with Clodagh, these plans really start to come to fruition.

For me, I have set my hopes on working with a top-class trainer upon completion of the programme and eventually training racehorses myself and so I try to tailor my experiences around this plan as much as possible. As far as the industry in the Southern Hemisphere goes, it is my opinion that we could learn a lot back home in Ireland from the Aussies and Kiwis in terms of syndication and public participation in the sport. I wanted to immerse myself in these aspects of the industry as much as possible, with the hope of taking something away that I could utilize back home eventually.

With all this in mind, Clodagh set out to arrange a potential externship for me with Te Akau in New Zealand. Given Te Akau's reputation as being the best in the business, attracting owners and syndicating horses both successfully and rapidly, there could not possibly be another company that would better meet my learning objectives. Thankfully, the team kindly agreed to take me on for the three-week period, and the wheels were in motion.

My affiliation with Te Akau subconsciously began a couple of years previously when Torcedor was successfully trained in the tangerine by superstar Irish trainer Jessica Harrington. I remember seeing the brightly coloured silks in my native Kildare, unfamiliar amongst the old reliables. Little did I know at the time that one day I would model the tangerine myself, or that Mr. David Ellis himself would tell me in his living room at Te Akau HQ about how Torcedor was the result of a health scare and a lifetime desire to own and race horses in Europe.

I arrived in Matamata, New Zealand on Saturday the 10^th of November 2018. My first impressions of New Zealand were of the similarities to Ireland - with the rolling green hills and the abundance of dairy and sheep farms. This impression was probably accentuated by the fact that we had just spent four months in the drought-stricken Hunter Valley in Australia, a very different landscape, however the feeling of “home” that New Zealand gave me never left me throughout my time there. In fact, it was only exaggerated by the hospitality and friendliness showered upon me throughout my time there by not only the Ellis family, but the Richards family and the team at Te Akau also.

Throughout my three-week stint in the tangerine, I had an assortment of experiences that any young person in racing would be envious of. My first week was spent largely on site at the Matamata racetrack where chief trainer Jamie Richards and the team resides. There were 4am starts, riding pace works, gallops, watching trot ups, report writing etc., and I loved every minute of it. During this first week, I was also fortunate to travel to the South Island and watch as Te Akau Shark savaged his rivals in the Group 2 Coupland's Bakeries Mile (1600m) at Riccarton.

During this visit, I also met the rest of the Richards family and integral parts of the Te Akau machine - Jamie's mother Leanne (who affectionately took on the role of my Kiwi mother, making sure I was never hungry or lonely), Jamie's father Paul who now plays the important role of assistant trainer and Libby, newly appointed racing manager at Te Akau and I am proud to say now, a very good friend. These 48 hours at Riccarton in the formative days of my time at Te Akau really set the tone for the weeks to follow. There was never a low point throughout my time.

The following week saw us travel to New Zealand Bloodstock Sales for the annual two-year-old Ready to Run sale at Karaka. Given David's history and reputation of buying and selling horses, I knew this would be a fabulous week, and it certainly did not disappoint. We spent the first two days that week inspecting horses and shortlisting for sales days, standard procedure for any individual hoping to buy bloodstock at public auction. But what really made the days for me were Jamie and David's unwavering desire and passion to show me and teach me as much as possible.

Not only did I learn so much, David and Jamie never hesitated in introducing me to everyone they came across, and David's quick wit and warm way of going really kept us entertained, even throughout the torrential downpour of rain! Sales days were spent ringside and watching on as the wheels of the Te Akau machine turned was truly as fascinating as one might expect. David is a man who knows what he wants and watching on as he purchased horse after horse (seven in total over the two days) was remarkable - there is a reason why he is Karaka's best customer! Our time at Karaka over those four days also meant that I had the good fortune of spending time with David's wife Karyn and daughter Julia Rose.

Never have you seen a more successful company with more family involvement and each character more colourful than the last. Karyn and Julia Rose (warmly known as JR) were no exception to this, nor did they falter in maintaining the level of welcoming I had experienced to date. Not only did they serve to maintain my love for New Zealand and Te Akau, they also taught me so much in their respective fields of client relations and marketing, and I am eternally grateful to them also. As a twenty-five-year-old aspiring business woman, I indulge in any opportunity I can get to surround myself with powerful and successful women in the industry, and the women of Te Akau are certainly no exception.

The week at Karaka culminated in a couple of days and nights spent at Te Akau farm with Libby and the Ellis'. No stranger to the grill, David served us up some lamb rack which he had farmed himself (the true definition of farm to fork!) and we enjoyed great food and even better conversation. These days were spent observing the syndication process, driving around the farm and attending the Inner Mongolia Rider Horse Breeder's Music Festival at Highview Stud. This was quite the experience. Never did I think I would find myself amongst the likes of Sir Peter Vela and Sir Patrick Hogan whilst enjoying a BBQ and drinks in a traditional Chinese setting - but it simply served as yet another warm memory of my time with Te Akau Racing.

They say time flies when you are having fun, this has never rung truer to me than during my time on Godolphin Flying Start and in this instance, than during my time with Te Akau. In the blink of an eye, I found myself starting my final week in New Zealand with the team (anyone who knows Mr. Ellis will understand why when I say “the team” I hear his voice!) and there has never been a more bitter sweet goodbye. I spent this week in Matamata back at base, working with the horses at the track in the mornings and helping out at the races or trials in the afternoon. I also had the pleasure of participating in the annual owner's afternoon at the track, where I observed even more about top class customer service and relations.

The highlight of this week was certainly the Richard's family dinner before I left, another night of great food and even better company, seemingly the trend of my time in New Zealand. Although the objective of this piece is to talk about my time at Te Akau, something I do not think I can pay due credit to in one written piece, I also want to take the chance to thank each and every person who made my time in the tangerine so special. From all the integral players mentioned above, to the friends I made in the barns - Teina, Kate, Mason, Mette, Tracey, Sally, Scott, Nicole to name but a few, I can't emphasise enough how much I enjoyed my time with you all.  I have been fortunate enough in my career to date to proudly don the Godolphin blue and the Te Akau tangerine, and as we all sat around outside the main barn on my final evening with the team, I knew I had made another fantastic career move, and met some more incredibly special and talented people along the way.