KARAKA 2025 - That's A Wrap!

28 January, 2025

Wrapping up last year’s sale, we said we’d find and buy another Karaka Millions winner... and true to our word, we did!

After the last three days we're feeling confident that we’ve done it again with our 'Class of 2025' Karaka yearlings! Book 1 at Karaka is now done! Team Te Akau is overjoyed to have secured 26 yearlings, with a number already sold!

Each is poised to excel under the Te Akau banner in both New Zealand and Australia. We’re thrilled by the exceptional quality of horses that will grace the track in the tangerine!

Te Akau Principal David Ellis CNZM was once again the leading buyer at Karaka - an achievement we’re extremely proud of. We’re also immensely grateful for YOUR ongoing support, which enables us to continue reaching these milestones. We invite you to catch up with David and Karyn for a wrap-up of our final days ringside at Karaka below.

Leading buyer over the past two decades at Karaka, Te Akau principal David Ellis CNZM once again led the way at the completion of the three-day Book 1 Sale at Karaka.

The TAB Karaka Millions' meeting preceded the sale at Ellerslie and Te Akau won the $1 million TAB Karaka Millions 2YO with La Dorada providing the stable with our 8th winner in nine years, and the $1.5 million TAB Karaka Millions 3YO with Damask Rose.

La Dorada and Damask Rose added to the history that Te Akau has created in the Karaka Millions' races - no other stable has recorded the double and we have done this three times. We won both races in 2020 with Cool Aza Beel (Savabeel) and Probabeel (Savabeel), and again in 2022 with Dynastic (Almanzor) and Pin Me Up (Pins), while Probabeel remains the only horse in the 18-year race history to have won both races, after first winning the Karaka Million 2YO in 2019.

Our recent purchases, which are all shown on the ‘Buy Yearlings & Shares’ page have now made their way to Te Akau Stud, where the spelling and breaking-in of horses is shared on 4000 acres with farming sheep and cattle. www.teakauracing.com/yearlings-shares

With our 21 purchases at the Magic Millions Yearling Sale on the Gold Coast, and 25 at Karaka, we have purchased 46 yearlings for syndication in January.

David, who received the Outstanding Contribution to Racing Award in 2017 and added further distinction with his appointment as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2020, continues as a major force in the racing industry and Te Akau Racing now has stables in Matamata, Riccarton, and Cranbourne (Victoria).

“We’ve already got about a dozen of the yearlings fully sold and quite a few of the others are pretty well subscribed with shares, but we’ve certainly got shares available in some very nice horses,” Ellis said.

“We have an even distribution of colts and fillies - we did our homework pretty intensely leading into both the yearling sales. Our buying team of Mark Walker, Marcus Corban, and Reece Trumper, together with our senior vets inspected the Gold Coast yearling drafts in December in Australia, and we were back over there a week before the sales began.

“We also started inspecting the Karaka drafts at the farms in December, intensified that in January, and were on the sale grounds in the week leading up to the sales to refine our buying lists.

"People can get in touch with us by phone, email, and through the website. We welcome all the expressions of interest and also welcome people booking a time to come out to the farm at Te Akau Stud to inspect them in the paddocks.”

Te Akau leads the New Zealand Trainers' Premiership with 76 wins this season, with $4.9 million won in stakes for our owners.

There’s no better time to be involved with Te Akau - we thank you for your ongoing support and loyalty.

From affordable options to high-calibre prospects for racing purists, we have worked hard to sort the best and are proud to now have the most impressive array of yearlings anyone could want. There is no better choice anywhere!

We welcome you to view our Yearling & Shares page for all of our opportunities to be trained by Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson in New Zealand and Australia.

www.teakauracing.com/yearlings-shares

Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions - Karyn: [email protected] or David: +64 21 925 151.

GO THE TANGERINE!

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