Te Akau Friday Update
2 August, 2024
David writes:
Welcome to this very first update of the new 2024/25 season!
To say I am so proud of the season just concluded, would be a massive understatement. There was so many wonderful results and events throughout the season that it would be hard to even highlight a handful but I will briefly try.
The highlight would have to be seeing Te Akau New Zealand trainer Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson claim the Trainers' Premiership with 169 wins, 69 ahead of the next stable.
This is momentous for a couple of reasons - firstly how amazing to see Sam, in his very first year as a licensed trainer, win the Premiership.
Secondly the tally of 169 (including 21 Group/Listed race wins) is the second highest ever recorded by a New Zealand stable. The highest ever stands at 203 which was established by Te Akau last season - and in fact the stable also holds the third highest tally as well (160) from the 2020/21 season.
Of the season's 169 races wins, 64 were in the South Island giving Mark and Sam more wins in the South Island than any other stable. Considering we only have 20 boxes in the south, this was a remarkable achievement for all the team.
Very importantly too, for the second year in a row, Te Akau has won over $8 million in prize money for our owners in New Zealand alone.
Of course another undoubted highlight of last season was the establishment of our Australian stable at Cranbourne. Te Akau Australia has made a big impact in a short time - with over $7 million won for owners in the 10 months since we started in Victoria - nine Group races (five Group One's).
In total, including our Singapore stable, we are proud that over $17 million in prize money has been won fore our owners. That's a huge result.
We are so excited for this new season - on both sides of the Tasman - we have an extraordinary team of humans: trainers Mark and Sam, supported by assistant trainers Nicole and Ben in New Zealand and Australia respectively. There's Hunter overseeing our South Island stable, and our racing manager Reece ensuring the smooth day to day running of so many important aspects of our stable.
As the season closed, we were proud to see two of our team, Faith Pollock and Hunter Durrant, named as finalists in the Entain Industry Excellence Awards, a new innovation to celebrate the contribution and talent of the industry's under-40 year olds.
Likewise it was terrific to see many of our last season's performers - horses and humans - being named as finalists in various categories at the upcoming NZTR Horse of the Year awards.
Three of the four finalists in the 2YO category are from our stable, and we also see Quintessa as a 3YO of the Year finalist, Imperatriz named in the Sprinter/Miler category and Campionessa, the Middle Distance contest.
Our New Zealand training team of Mark and Sam is one of two finalists for Champion Trainer while Te Akau stable rider Opie Bosson ONZM is again a finalists for the Champion Jockey of the Year.
We are thrilled for our owners, and our whole team - it really underlines a massive effort by everyone involved.
I have to say it was great to arrive home after having our annual break in Fiji. While we were still glued to our laptops and phones, the warm weather and change of environment is enjoyable and refreshing. It is a great place to take the grandchildren and we had a really special family time.
Karyn and I are so blessed with the team that we have - the stable team I mentioned above but also our farm crew! Everything went so well at the farm while we were away - it was all in great shape when we got home thank you Deane and Luke. Of course our Business Manager Jenny keeps the whole operation ticking smoothly!
While we were away, Karyn and I still watched every race, and we were thrilled to see the stable hit those prize money milestones!
The arrival of the new season also sees every horse celebrate its birthday, meaning all the yearlings that we bought this year officially turned two years old on Thursday.
Our stable rider Opie Bosson has been busy since arriving home from his holiday - he rode trackwork at Matamata on four mornings this week and I have never seen him so excited about the season coming up.
Quite a few of the 'babies' have already had a jump out and WOW we have some talent to race this season.
We finished up buying 60 yearlings for approx. $20 million, and we only have a handful shares still available in seven yearlings. Don’t forget that it’s ridiculous how, over the years, some of our very best horses have been the last to sell.
By way of example, Champion mare Imperatriz still had shares available in August and nine-time Group 1 winner Avantage in September. Likewise multiple Group winning juvenile Captured By Love (who I think is in for a big season).
We have shares available in some magnificent young horses so if you would like to talk to me, feel free to call me anytime on +64 21 925 151. There is nothing we like more than talking to existing or new owners.
I don’t think I have ever been so excited at the start of the season. You know that top class racing is just around the corner too when you see horses like Group 1 winners Campionessa, Move To Strike, Quintessa and Skew Wiff having an exhibition gallop like they did midweek at Tauranga.
While we were away we had exactly 100mls of rain so naturally the farm is wet but lambing is going really well. Just this morning we had ten sets of twins born and two ewes had triplets.
The price of cattle has moved up each week but so has the store price and we have already started bringing in yearlings to replace the 2 ½ year old steers that we will start selling in October.
As 1 August comes round each year, all statistics return to zero - we intend to hit the ground running and our attention turns at Riccarton tomorrow where we have our first three runners of the season. Freeze Frame will be our first stakes' competitor for the season, taking on the Group 3 Winter Cup with Warren Kennedy to ride.
Then on Sunday our first runner will step out for our Australian stable, former Wellington Cup winner Leaderboard will contest the Grand National Hurdle over 4200m at Sandown with gun former Kiwi jumps' jockey Aaron Kuru to ride. Kuru has formed a formidable partnership with our Cranbourne stable, which has seen some superb jumping wins by Leaderboard, Prismatic and The Mighty Spar.
Have a great weekend and ...
GO THE TANGERINE