Te Akau Dominates Matamata Awards

Te Akau Racing continued its dominance at the Matamata Racing Awards on Monday night.

At a training centre that has
seen 95,000 horses use the track facilities in the past 12 months, Te Akau won
Champion Two-Year-Old, Champion Three-Year-Old, Champion Sprinter/Miler,
Champion Trainer, Champion Owner, and Horse of the Year.

Winning five Group Ones last
season assured Melody Belle (Commands) was Horse of the Year, giving Te Akau
the title for four consecutive years.

“She followed Gingernuts,
Xtravagant, and Avantage as Horse of the Year and in those years we've also won
the Champion two and three year old titles and also the trainer of the year,”
said Te Akau principal David Ellis, who also purchased all four Horse of the
Year winners.

Having three of the four nominees for the Roger Blake Champion Two-Year-Old, including Aotea Lad (Savabeel) and Probabeel (Savabeel), the title went to Yourdeel (Dundeel) after a clean sweep of the Group One juvenile classics: Sistema Stakes (Gr. 1, 1200m) and Sires' Produce Stakes (Gr. 1, 1400m). He also finished third to Probabeel in the Karaka Million (Restricted Listed, 1200m) and won the Matamata Slipper (Gr. 3, 1200m).

Strapper Kate Belsham was on
stage to accept the award with trainer Jamie Richards. “He's a character and
really turned the corner after being gelded, and he's now in Australia, on his
way to Hong Kong,” Belsham said.

“I'd like to thank Chris Rutten
and his team of owners: John Norwood and Rod Preston,” said Richards. “They've
been good supporters of the stable, patient, allowed us to do what needed to be
done and his two Group Ones were first-class. He's a very good horse and
unfortunately, with so much money on offer offshore, he's been sold. But, Chris
has reinvested and we have a nice Bullpoint colt in the stable that has already
won a trial.”

Award presenter, life member
Roger Blake said: “I'd just like to thank David (Ellis) and the whole team a)
for the professionalism you've brought to racing, and b) for what you've
brought to Matamata. It's a huge input to this area and as a club we do
appreciate your presence here.”

The Jack McAnnalley Champion
Sprinter/Miler was won by Melody Belle. Bought by Ellis for $57,500 at the 2016
New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale, from the draft of Haunui Farm,
the Champion Two-Year-Old has now won 11 of her 19 starts, with earnings of
$1,625,406 for the Fortuna Melody Belle Syndicate (Mgr: John Galvin). She began
her season winning the Foxbridge Plate (Gr. 2, 1200m) last August, going on to
win the Tarzino Trophy (Gr. 1, 1400m), Windsor Park Plate (Gr. 1, 1600m), BCD
Group Sprint (Gr. 1, 1400m), Haunui Farm WFA Group One Classic (1600m), and
culminating with the Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (Gr. 1, 2000m) in March.

“It was an outstanding season and I'm sure many of you know that I was involved, and still am involved, in the ownership of Darci Brahma,” Galvin said. “After he retired, I said I'd never be involved in a horse as good as him, but Melody Belle has actually surpassed him (winning six Group Ones, as opposed to five) and it's a great privilege.

“Full credit to the Te Akau team,
with David selecting the horse and Jamie, in partnership with Stephen Autridge
seeing her through her first two seasons, and then of course, Jamie last year
with such a fantastic solo-training performance not just with Melody Belle but
over the whole team as well.”

Despite an abbreviated season,
Avantage (Fastnet Rock), winning on both sides of the Tasman, took out the John
Tucker Champion Three-Year-Old title. She carried on from a stellar
two-year-old season to win the Gold Trail Stakes (Gr. 3, 1200m) and TAB
Birthday Card Stakes (Gr. 3, 1200m) on Golden Slipper Day at Rosehill Gardens, Sydney,
and also finished third in the $1m Arrowfield 3YO Sprint (Gr. 2, 1200m) at
Randwick.

Tucker presented the award to
David Ellis, saying: “I think we should all pay credit to the full team. Those
back on the farm that looks after the horses from day one, after the sales, all
the way through. David, we at the Matamata Racing Club are indebted to you and
your Te Akau enterprise.”

Ellis said: “I'd like to thank the Life Members, that love racing and worked tirelessly, without a cent, and lend their support to this function and awards.

“Results with horses like
Avantage only come about through the superb track facilities we have here at
Matamata. And I consider Graeme Styles (course manager) to be the leader of his
field in New Zealand, and the facilities are fantastic. And I'd like to
congratulate Dennis Ryan (club chairman), the committee, and especially the
life members.”

The D J O'Sullivan Trainer of the
Year award was presented by Dave O'Sullivan to Jamie Richards.

Introducing the award,
entertaining MC Frank Vosper said: “It's been highlight after highlight and
2018/19 was no exception. His first season in sole charge of the Te Akau team,
he finished second on the national premiership with 98 wins and domestic stakes
of $3.86 million. The tally included seven Group One race wins, highlighted by
five weight-for-age Group Ones from 1400m to 2000 metres by star performer
Melody Belle. To have achieved so much while still in his twenties, leaves us
wondering as to what heights he may achieve as the years roll on.”

“On behalf of the Matamata Racing
Club and on behalf of myself, I'd like to congratulate you,” O'Sullivan said.
“You've done an amazing job. The way you've handled and placed your horses to
the best advantage, and also the way you've handled the media. You've done a
great job there.”

“Thank You to Mr. O'Sullivan,”
Richards said. “I won this award when I was first training with Steve
(Autridge) and it's a big thrill to come back and get it for the next couple of
years from such an esteemed trainer in your own right, with the success you had
in both New Zealand and Australia, synonymous with the O'Sullivan family.

“We work a big team of horses and
one person's name in the book doesn't really represent the hard work that goes
in, not only by the whole team at Matamata, but also the team at Te Akau Stud,
where the horses spell and get broken in. I'd like to thank David Ellis for
filling the stable with such quality horses and everybody that helps us. I'd
also like to thank Doug Black and Ronan Costello, who are here, from Waikato
Equine Vets. The service they provide is first-class.”

The Colin Thompson Champion Owner
trophy was awarded to the Fortuna Melody Belle Syndicate (Mgr: John Galvin). In
1969, Life Members Colin Thompson and Jack Lindsay were responsible for
inauguration of the Matamata Breeders' Stakes.

Formerly from Matamata, Galvin
said: “I remember watching Colin (Thompson) run in the Tower Race, when I way
here in my farming days, in the 80s. He wasn't a young man then, probably 50
plus, and he won the race - run from downtown Matamata to the Tower, and back
again. He was a tough bugger.

“The award was not one we were expecting. We thought we might get one or two with Melody Belle, so it's a great thrill to get the owners' award too.”

Horses trained at Matamata won
eight of the 21 Group One races last season in New Zealand, but the one that
stood out was Melody Belle, winner of the Horse of the Year.

"Her Group One wins numbered five for the season, encompassing six wins from eight starts, from 1200m to 2000 metres. She had already been a Group One winner, Champion of her generation at two, and by end of her landmark season her tally stood at 11 wins and stakes of $1.65 million. All from a yearling purchased at Karaka by David Ellis for a mere $57,500. Great foresight, well done David, and she is now the highest rated horse in New Zealand.

“It was a fantastic feat by
Melody Belle, Jamie (Richards), Shafiq (Rusof), Opie (Bosson), and Troy (Harris)
and the team behind her,” said Dennis Ryan. “She came to the team as a plain,
but bonny, mare and what she has developed into shows you've all done a
terrific job. So, we pay tribute to her and wish her well in further
endeavours.

“We are looking forward to Hawkes
Bay and the Triple Crown,” said Galvin, on her upcoming programme. “She really
did a ‘Triple Crown' in the autumn, winning three races over a four week
period: 1400m, 1600m, and 2000m.

“She is a lovely mare and
developed into a superb race mare. You couldn't argue that her four-year-old year
was her signature year. I had a bit of chuckle about the $57,500, because the
bids were going up in $5,000 increments, and David, being David, fancied
himself to offer $2,500 and I guess that was important to pay that rather than
$60,000. So, thank you David for a great effort.

“Jamie has done a great job with
her, and along with Steve (Autridge) prior, and in particular I'd like to thank
many of the Te Akau team beneath Jamie that have worked with the horse. Track
work riders, handlers, strappers, so on and so forth. And a special mention to
our vet team. Melody Belle has never had any major issues, she's very sound,
but at the same time we want our runners to be in the best of health. So, thank
you Doug and Ronan.”

Richly deserved, after 20 years
as course manager at Matamata, the Outstanding Contribution to Racing Award was
presented to Graeme Styles.

“I thought the award was great
recognition for a truly great job that he's done,” said David Ellis, who was
honoured with ‘Outstanding Contribution to Racing' during the 2017 New Zealand
Racing Awards.

“The facilities at Matamata are
just out of this world, especially at this time of year, we have a nice grass
whenever we want it. The jump out track is fantastic, the Two-Year-Old grass
gallop has been brilliant and you don't quinella and trifecta races like the
Karaka Million unless you've got great facilities to train on.”

In summary, Ellis said: “It was a
great night and it was great to see the Life Members getting in behind the club
with their support. I was thrilled for Jamie to win Trainer of the Year in his
first season solo and as he correctly said, it's about a fantastic bunch of
world-class staff that is so dedicated and we're just so lucky to have them in
the stable. They are terrific people.”

Also on the night, Fibre Fresh ‘Optimising
Nature's Brilliance' donated one tonne of horse feed, won by Te Akau at auction.

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