Te Akau Friday Update

David writes:

Just a note to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and all the best for 2017.  It is an appropriate time for me to reflect on 2016 and thank all of my team who have worked so hard to produce the incredible results that we have achieved.  To be judged by a panel of 45 judges as the best stable in New Zealand is something I am unbelievably proud of.

There are two groups of people that I would like to thank.  All of the team members who start work at 4am every morning at our stable, always with a smile on their faces and who work so hard.  Without our wonderful owners who we are privileged to train horses for, we could not experience this success or bought the magnificent horses that we have.

In 2016 Te Akau Racing bought a record number of horses and I am so excited about seeing them race.  Already three of the four two year olds that we have started have won and we have some of our best still to come.  A lot of these horses are not naturally precocious two year olds but will develop into beautiful three and four year olds.

So to all of our brilliant Te Akau owners who invested in these horses - a huge thank you from us all at Te Akau Racing.

Another piece of really exciting news is seeing how the Burgundy's are racing.  Burgundy has now had two to the races and they have both won and I can tell you there have been a lot of other trial winners that have not raced yet but that have impressed greatly in training.  One such horse that we have in the stable is Nucleonic, a two year old filly by Burgundy out of Mexican Rose.  After showing a lot of promise in training she came out and won her trial by 3.5 lengths, going the fastest time of the day. She will have her first start at Taranaki on Tuesday.  She has drawn very wide but we still intend to start her at this stage because we want to get on the right foot for the Matamata Breeders' Stakes which is a race we have had a lot of success in.

We have a lot of Burgundy yearlings at the farm which I really like and I think breeders that bred to this sire for a $5,000 service fee are going to be unbelievably well rewarded.  A lot of trainers at Matamata keep telling me that Burgundy was the fastest horse they have ever seen trained at Matamata.  He is a beautiful animal.  He won seven races, five at black type level.  He is a three-quarter brother to Darci Brahma and I think he is going to be a very exciting sire.

Also many of you will be interested to know that the Waikato (and Te Akau Stud) had 28mls of rain last night and the farm looks the best I have ever seen it for the end of the December.  It just looks absolutely beautiful.

So once again have a really happy Christmas.  There is great racing over the Christmas/New Year period.  Best of luck to the Auckland Racing Club for a great carnival. Karyn and I will be there all three days and we are especially looking forward to Xtravagant and Heroic Valour galloping between races on 29 December there.

Travel safely - and take care - from us all!