Te Akau Friday Update

David writes:

What a beautiful, clear week it has been weather-wise at Te Akau Stud.  Frosty mornings with brilliantly fine days. The horses on the farm spelling just love this weather as do the staff.

We never have many horses racing from Te Akau during the winter months of June or July but the team is flat out as usual preparing our horses for the new season.

It is certainly a very exciting time having all the young horses that we bought finish their breaking in and early education and currently we have a number of our rising two year olds coming in to the stable for the second time.

We have also welcomed back our well-known horses and some you might not know so well - each horse is having its individual programme plotted, each one getting plenty of personal attention. Some of the older horses will slowly start to have their work load increased in the next ten days. We will certainly have a large number at the Te Teko trials on the first Tuesday of August.

With fewer horses in training, it is a great time for many of our hard-working crew to have a break.  Steve and Lynley have been in Europe for son Jason's wedding to Katy and they arrive back on Monday.

Jamie heads away for his annual holidays on Monday night and Karyn I are taking a few weeks holiday from next week too. We are heading to Hawaii for some sun and to recharge the batteries so we are all set to 'rock and roll' with gusto for the new season.  While we are away Sam Boyd is coming to stay at the farm as he normally does.  Sam worked with me at Te Akau Stud for over 30 years until his retirement about four years ago.  Karyn loves him coming so her three dogs (and three rescue cats - that's another story) keep warm and dry!

Today Jamie is coming to the farm and together we are inspecting all of the horses that are spelling at Te Akau Stud and we will be having a good chat about our plans for each horse for next season.

Last weekend I went with a few friends to Eden Park and really enjoyed the first test against the Lions and I cannot wait for the second test tomorrow night.  I was blown away with the number of Lions' supporters at Eden Park who had travelled to New Zealand for the series and it certainly created an amazing atmosphere at the game.  Afterwards we went to Soul Bar for dinner and the Viaduct Basin was buzzing with red jerseys and All Black supporters.

It has been a great week for our little country with the boys winning the America's Cup - now that was a thrilling regatta. Well done Emirates Team New Zealand - winning big races is a massive buzz whether on the track or on the water - but your result is huge for New Zealand and your talent and total professionalism made us very proud.

Tonight our Singapore trainer Mark Walker has only three horses running at Kanji with the Singapore Turf Club having raced last Friday and Monday.  Mark has won 15 races so far this month - what an amazing performance.  He currently leads the Trainers' Premiership by a whopping 16 wins!