Te Akau Friday Update

David writes:

This is my last day in the office until next Wednesday (how did he manage that?? - Ed) so I want to take this opportunity of saying a massive thank you for you all for all the support we have received from all our owners during 2017.

What an unbelievable year we have had and I am now going to take the weekend off to get ready for Christmas Day.

I enjoy greatly Christmas Day.  I will be putting the turkey on the weber at 10.45am. Then the bar is going to open and we will relax and have some fun until we have lunch at about 2pm.  I always do the cooking on Christmas Day because I find cooking very relaxing !!

Then we will be in bed early to prepare for one of New Zealand's best race days - the Boxing Day races at Ellerslie.

So to everybody who has supported and helped Karyn and me  in 2017 a huge thank you.  Your support is never taken forgranted and is highly appreciated.

To all our team at the stud, at the stable and in Singapore, well done on a fantastic year.  The best ever for Te Akau at every level.  You  have done a remarkable job, thank you.

Karyn and I have had an unbelievably busy year but also a fun year and very rewarding.

Firstly we have bought and fully sold 62 horses. I am so proud of this.  Yes every share of every horse is fully sold.  I get huge personal satisfaction our of firstly selecting and buying these young horses then selling them.  The demand was so strong we have a waiting list in a number of horses we bought at the recent Ready to Run sale.

I have spent five days in the last two weeks looking at yearlings - we start again in the New Year and will do another three days a week until they are all completed.  I love looking at yearlings.  It is my hobby.  It is even more fun when you get the results we have had this year.

Have a look at this:

January: Hall of Fame wins the Group 1 Levin Classic at Trentham.

February: Gold Fever wins the Group 2 Matamata Breeders' Stakes and Gingernuts wins the Group 2 Avondale Guineas.

March: Splurge wins the Group 3 Darley Plate at Ellerslie.  Gingernuts wins the $1 million Group 1 New Zealand Derby meaning Te Akau has won all the million dollar races in New Zealand this year. Gingernuts then goes to Sydney to win the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas which was the highest rated three year old race in Australasia this year.

April: Melody Belle wins the Group 1 Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes at Awapuni. Torcedor wins the Group 3 Coolmore Stud Vintage Crop Stakes in Ireland.

May: Melody Belle wins the Group 2 Brisbane Sires' Produce.  Shocking Luck wins the Group 3 Rough Habit Plate also in Brisbane.

September: Gingernuts wins the Group 1 Windsor Park Plate at Hawkes Bay and Chance to Dance wins the Listed Karaka Classic.

October: Grazia wins the Listed Spring Classic Stakes at Riccarton.

November: Embellish wins the Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas giving Te Akau a quinella in the race with Age of Fire, and Te Akau Shark running an excellent fourth - Te Akau's sixth 2000 Guinbeas' scalp.  Al Hasa wins the Listed Welcome Stakes - Te Akau's sixth in this event.  Chance to Dance wins the Group 3 OMF Stakes at Ellerslie on Melbourne Cup Day.

December: Chambord wins the Listed Levin Stakes at Otaki.  Royal Success wins the Group 3 J Swap Open Sprint at Te Rapa, giving Te Akau a quinella in the race with Chambord an unlucky second.

So that is 19 black type wins already this year with more we hope to come tomorrow and Boxing Day.

The exciting thing is I have bought all these horses- now this is something I am really proud of.  So to summarize the year:

Six Group 1's & 13 Group and Listed races this year

I am not only proud to be the team leader but it is also a huge feather for our trainers Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards, Jamie of course has also been involved in both selecting many of these horses.  Well done to all my team members.

On top of this Mark Walker has done a truly amazing job winning the Singapore Trainers' Premiership by 22 wins.  Well done Mark!

It was also a huge honour to receive the Outstanding Contribution to Racing Excellence Award at the New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Horse of the Year Awards in September - I felt very humbled to be recognised in this manner.

We have not had quite the greatest year however on the farm.  We had a terrible Spring and the farm has gone from being water-logged to being so dry.  We are now in a drought in most of the Waikato.  The only good thing about the farm is the cattle are weighing like lead.  We  have never killed so many heavy cattle but gee we would love some rain!!  This week we have killed 4 units i.e. 144 cattle and 400 fat lambs - we will keep killing a unit of cattle a day through January.

So over all we have had a great year.

Karyn and I wish you a very Happy Christmas and a fantastic New Year and go the tangerine !!!

I am in yearling sale mode so make your plans to come to Karaka and help me buy the yearlings.