Te Akau Friday Update

David writes:

It has been another busy and successful week here at Te Akau Racing.

Starting last Saturday with a win on Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas' day at Riccarton with Conclusion, the winning streak continued the next day in Singapore.

Mark Walker was on fire, taking out a quinella with Alamosa Express, who is owned by Dr Ron Boet. A few races later, Mark won the Group 1 Singapore Gold Cup with Elite Invincible. This race was worth NZ $1.5 million. What a magnificent effort from Mark, Gus and Karen. Well done team.

I went back to Christchurch on Tuesday to catch up with the team of owners who had travelled over from Sydney to see Te Akau Shark race, which includes NRL legend Paul Gallen who is Captain of the Cornulla Sharks.

Gee, Te Akau Shark is an exciting horse - the way he puts a field away is pretty exciting. Twelve days ago, Opie went to Matamata to gallop Te Akau Shark on the course proper, and afterwards he rang me and said: “in my career, I have never galloped a horse that has worked that well”.  We knew he was  going to be hard to beat at Riccarton but of course Group races are always tough to win.

Well done to all the team who has worked so hard looking after all the horses through the winter and spring. That hard work is really paying off.

What a great start to training Jamie Richards has had. I went down to see Te Akau Shark saddled up before the $230,000 Group 2 Coupland's Mile, and I could see Jamie had him ready. Going from 1400 to 1600 metres and going five weeks between runs is never that easy, but Jamie put enormous thought into what he did every day in that five week period, and the horse wouldn't have blown a match out after the race.

A few races earlier Remington, again with Opie in the saddle, won really well. This is also a pretty exciting Darci Brahma gelding that I bought at Karaka from Pencarrow Stud. I could see him being competitive in next year's Coupland's Mile.

It was great to be at Riccarton for two days of their carnival. I love how the big track that gives most horses a chance, and it is always great to see our friends. We have a huge number of clients and friends in the South Island and we loved catching up.  Again the carnival has been very successful.

Speaking of Jamie - just look at the current Trainers' Premiership and it really underlines how our team is firing - we lead for wins, stake money and none has trained more group and Listed winners - with such a superb strike rate.  I am so proud of everyone.

 
Premierships are based on performances during each racing season (August 1st - July 31st). The jockey and trainer with the most wins at the end of the season are the Premiership winners - source NZTR 16.11.18

Karyn has stayed down south this week, as she wants to spend time with her Mother.  She will however be at Riccarton tomorrow as we have five runners. I am staying at home to focus on the Ready to Run sale.

I will be at Karaka all next week so if you would like to be part of the next Te Akau Shark or Gingernuts, both of which I purchased at this sale, you would be more than welcome to come and join Jamie, Karyn and myself.

We are going to purchase two to three horses, so if you would like to be involved, I suggest getting in contact as soon as possible.  We have a good number of owners who have asked to be on our Priority List for the Ready to Run Sale so if you want to join them for information as it happens - email Karyn now - [email protected].

We have now finished shearing, and can you believe that we only received $2.10 per kilo for our ewe wool? I bought my first farm in 1979 and that year we received $6.50 per kilo. It's lucky that we are getting such good prices for our lambs, as the wool price hardly covers the cost of shearing.

Best of luck to all our owners with runners tomorrow at Tauranga and Riccarton, and go the Tangerine!