Te Akau Friday Update

David writes:

As a farmer, you couldn't get better weather!  A good inch of rain overnight and a really mild day today - the grass is really growing!

The docking is all finished and the team is taking advantage of a wet day to replace gates in the woolshed and have a general tidy up.

Last night we had Ken Browne, my partner in Thrive, here to stay.  Ken is Vice President of Hawkes Bay Racing Inc and is looking forward to a big day tomorrow at the Hastings racecourse for the second day of the Spring Carnival.

Our only runner is Costa Viva and her form is hard to fault but she goes up a couple of levels at just her second start so her run will be very interesting as we rate her as a filly with a future.  Her work has been of a very high standard this week but we have no illusions as to the quality of her opposition!

We are also taking advantage of a good track and taking five pretty smart horses to Gisborne on Sunday.

We have just had Tommy Hazlett here dropping off a couple of horses and taking two back to the stables.  We watched the first hurdle race at Rotorua and saw our Te Akau apprentice Dan Miller win his second race. Gee Dan has a huge future as a jumps' rider, a real natural - we are all very proud of Dan who is only 16.

Every morning Dan rides King's Rock in trackwork and of course the colt won on debut at Te Rapa last week and Dan was there to help look after him.  This half brother to King's Rose will run at Ellerslie next Saturday in the Group 3 Bonecrusher Stakes.  I was at the stable yesterday and saw him and he is just thriving.

Another colt to take my eye yesterday at Matamata was Bordeaux - the High Chaparral colt out of Our Echezeaux.  If he isn't a Group horse then I will be very surprised.  Tommy told me this morning that he can't remember a colt that has given him a better feel.  He will have a quiet trial towards the end of October.

I saw the mother of Bordeaux when I was at the New England Stud in Newmarket last month and she has been served by Frankel so exciting times ahead for this equine family.

This afternoon I will be out on the farm giving last minute instructions to the team and tomorrow Karyn and I are off to Auckland after Karyn's television commitments.  Tomorrow night we are having dinner at Antoine's with two of my great friends, Peter and Jenny Drummond and two of our daughters, Julia Rose and Sarah.  Then it is off to hospital on Sunday and the operation on Monday.

I will be in touch again as soon as I feel better - meantime Karyn, Jason and Mark will stay in good contact with you.  Thank you to everyone for their support which we really greatly appreciate.