From 1986 to 2025 – that’s 100 Group One wins for Te Akau Racing!
25 March, 2025
Join us as we celebrate this incredible milestone and look back on just some of the iconic moments that have shaped Te Akau Racing’s remarkable journey to a century of Group 1 titles. It’s an honour roll of unmissable names, each etched into the rich legacy of Te Akau’s history.
On Champions' Day at Ellerslie, Te Akau Racing achieved two dream results: securing our 100th Group One win success and claiming the inaugural running of the $3.5 million NZB Kiwi!
The 100th Group One victory came courtesy of Snitzel colt Return To Conquer, ridden by Blake Shinn, who triumphed in the $550,000 Group One Sistema Stakes.
Return To Conquer, owned by the Te Akau 2024 Stallion Breeding Syndicate (Mgr: Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM), was purchased by David Ellis CNZM for A$1.3 million at the 2024 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
After an unbeaten two-year-old campaign, which has seen him unbeaten - winning four stakes' races in a row - Return To Conquer is now enjoying a well-deserved spell, before preparing for his important three year old season.
Te Akau has won the Group 1 Sistema Stakes 1200m - formerly the Diamond Stakes - eight times, beginning with Maroofity in 2003, and has won four of the last five editions, including Sword Of State in 2021, both Champion 2YO's of their season.
David Ellis CNZM, Te Akau’s principal, marked his first Group One victory as an owner in 1986 when Cosmetique won the Easter Handicap at Ellerslie. The momentum since has been unstoppable, with 68 Group One wins over the past nine years alone.
“I’m very emotional,” Ellis said right after the win in the birdcage. “I never thought I’d get emotional, but for some reason, I am.
“If you’d told me this could happen when I first got involved in horse racing, I’d have said it was impossible. But now it’s a reality"
“I won my first race as an owner in 1978 at Paeroa, 46 years ago, and my first race here at Ellerslie in 1979.”
Ellis has poured endless time and effort into the New Zealand thoroughbred industry, one he is deeply passionate about, and last December, he was honoured as an inductee into the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame, the ceremony to take place on 11 May this year.
A huge thank you to everyone who has supported us on this incredible journey to 100 Group One wins - our amazing owners, jockeys, and incredible team. Let’s bring on the next 100! Wholeheartedly, these wins are for us all!