Te Akau Friday Update

David writes:

Well it doesn't get any bigger than Royal Ascot on the world racing stage!

The Royal meeting is just such a massive week and we were all SO proud of Torcedor who went a terrific race in the Te Akau tangerine to run a close-up third in the big race - the Group 1 Gold Cup.

This race is the European equivalent of the Melbourne Cup but is run over 2.5 miles.  We were up at 3.00am to watch the coverage - isn't it great that we can watch these races live on Trackside - what an amazing atmosphere there was on course.  Karyn and I have been to Royal Ascot three times now and of course Karyn was fortunate enough to be on hand at Ascot in May when Torcedor claimed his lead up Group 3 race by five lengths.

I purchased Torcedor for 70,000 euros at the Deauville Yearling Sale in France where he was Lot 1.  He is by Fastnet Rock out of a full sister to the superstar-stayer Yeats who won the Gold Cup four times in a row.  He was bred by Davey Nagle, a great breeder in Ireland.

Well done to the team led by trainer Jessica Harrington and an inspired ride by Colm O'Donoghue - we thought half way down the straight he might just "knock them off"!  A wonderful effort indeed.

After a very wet winter thus far, it is great to have a fine week - the grass is still growing and it is amazing how well the spelling horses have done.

Meanwhile everything at Matamata is gearing up towards the new season which commences on 1 August.  Our stable team thinks that we have bought a vintage group of yearlings - and their judgment is always very good!  Our first major assignment of the new season will be the Te Teko trials in early August where we will have about 50 of our horses ready to trial, including some of our babies.

Yes we are only nine weeks away from the official start of Spring - we said farewell to the shortest day or winter solstice yesterday (21 June)  - the time will fly for certain.

In Singapore it is a huge weekend for Mark Walker and the Te Akau Singapore - Mark lines up more than quarter of the field in Sunday's S$1 million Group 1 Charity Bowl over 1600m - there are 11 starters and the stable is represented by three very good chances in Elite Invincible, Kingsman and Lim's Regard.  You can catch the race on Trackside in New Zealand at 8.50pm on Sunday.

Life on the farm is always busy.  One of the best things to happen in farming is the price of lamb and in 10 days we will start our lambing at Te Akau.  We run about 2500 ewes at the farm and we scanned 158% so we will have lots of twins on the way.

On Monday we will drench and vaccinate the ewes, crutch them and set stock for lambing.

Karyn is busy in the office working through all the naming and registration of our yearlings, it's a massive task but one she really enjoys.  This afternoon we have old friends of mine Richard and Diane Kidd coming to stay.  I went through boarding school and Massey University with Richard and he farms at Helensville.  Then tomorrow my eldest daughter Joanna, her husband Leon and their children Ted and Ella are coming to visit.

Then we will settle in and support the All Blacks try and make it another test win against the French - GO THE ALL BLACKS.

Have a great weekend!