Te Akau Friday Update

David writes:

Well it's fair to say I have had a mixed week!

Last week, Karyn and I went to Queenstown for four days. On Sunday, I was at Queenstown Airport ready to fly out and, due to of cross winds, the plane from Auckland couldn't land, so my flight back was cancelled until Monday morning as no seats were available until then.

So Karyn and myself, Julia-Rose and Hamish and Lucia-Rose went to Amisfield Winery for a beautiful lunch. It was 20 degrees and the weather was just beautiful.

Come Monday morning and the bags are still packed ready to head to the airport and I open the curtains and you guessed it - it was snowing heavily, and the airport was closed. So in frustration, I drove to Dunedin  only just getting there with snow everywhere - and flew back to Auckland via Christchurch.  Gosh it was cold and it made me realise how lucky we are in the Waikato.

Sadly there were no seats for the rest of the family and they had to stay another night - and got the last room in the hotel too.   This really disrupted Karyn and Julia-Rose's plans as they had to cancel their flight to Melbourne the next day - wedding dress time!

On Tuesday, I travelled to Matamata and loved seeing all of our horses. I enjoy seeing the horses develop in the Spring when the sun comes out. It just makes such a difference. It was also great to catch up with the team, who all had a spring in their step due to the fine weather.

It's been flat out on the farm all week - the team has finished docking and this morning we docked our 3000^th lamb. I couldn't help but notice just how well the lambs are doing, and we will have our first pick in six weeks.

With the warmer weather, the grass is really starting to take off, and all the stock are really thriving!

I am looking forward to enjoying watching the big team we have racing tomorrow at Hastings and in Christchurch.  Karyn, who is the Syndicate Manager for Avantage, is flying down to the Hawkes Bay where Jamie has three really good changes, while Paul Richards is looking after the team at Riccarton.

That is all good news, but the really exciting news is that our stable jockey, Opie Bosson, is just about ready to go. After a quiet winter and a well deserved holiday, Opie (like me) put on a bit of weight and (just like me) found it very difficult to take it off.  So we sat down together and talked about a plan how we could both lose some weight, and have a healthy, well- balanced lifestyle/diet.

So we had a plan of no alcohol, and really healthy food, plus a workout together in my gym every day - the weight has just poured off us both. My personal trainer can't believe how fit we both are, and the wonderful news is that Opie is raring to go and should start riding in the next fortnight.

Opie has been flat out riding work at the stable every morning before coming out to Te Akau Stud. He has never ridden so much work, and is the fittest I have ever seen him. I am predicting a massive Spring and Summer for him. Never in his life has he treated it so seriously and I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of him. Opie came to work for me when he was just 14 years of age so I know him very well. I am so happy that this champion bloke is trying so hard and has lost so much weight.

I have truly never seen Opie so dedicated and excited about what we have to ahead in the next couple of months.

While Opie has been in training, it's been exciting to see Shafiq riding so well. He really is a top rider and, like Opie, is a great judge in trackwork. I have called Shafiq ‘Suppy' since I've known him, and it is most satisfying to see him win the big races in the Te Akau tangerine.

On a serious note - wherever I go there is plenty of discussion on John Messara's report into our industry. As I have said before, nobody was ever going to support it 100%. However, I support 90% of it.

As an industry, we should discuss and worry about the big points that can save the industry - the reality is that the decisions on which tracks may or may not close could be at least two years away, possibly three.

We as an industry haven't even had discussions on where these all-weather tracks are going to be placed. We all know that Cambridge needs an all-weather training track but we need an open discussion about an all- weather track for both trials and racing. It doesn't make sense from the information I have been given, to build facilities to race on when the Messara report recommends closing that training centre in about five years for a purpose built racing, trials' and training track.

So, for an all-weather track, let's talk about Te Aroha - one of the best courses in the country. Here, we wouldn't need any extra facilities, only the all-weather track. These things need to be discussed and the sooner, the better.

Best of luck to all our owners this weekend. I know Jamie is very happy with the teams in both Islands!