Te Akau Friday Update

David writes:

It's been such an exciting week for us as Level Three has allowed us to return to training, and this week we began sending our horses back to our Matamata stables. 

However we all know we are not out of the woods yet! We still have very strict COVID-19 protocols and guidelines to adhere to both here at the stud and at our Matamata stables.  Our team is following these rigorously.

If everyone continues to play their part and follow the rules that have been set in place, we should be out of this Level sooner rather than later, and Te Akau Stud and Racing continues to lead by example where our team's welfare and safety is prioritised. 

It's been a busy week here at the farm - some of our well-seasoned racehorses have been leaving Te Akau Stud as well as our promising Karaka and Gold Coast yearlings who have been broken in.

For me, this is one of the most exciting times of the year as we can now really see how these quality youngsters develop during their early education, as we build the foundations for their future racing careers.

Our trainer Jamie Richards has reported that our Stud Equine Manager and Head Breaker Enzo Di Leoni Ferrari has again done an amazing job breaking in our yearlings with his team. In my view, this is to be expected as Enzo is the best in the country. Our yearlings that have headed in to the stable are all working beautifully at the track as they undergo their first and second preparations. 

Finally, we are back in business! How exciting is it to think that we will be back racing in two months' time, and that Spring racing is now just around the corner!

After looking closely at every horse spelling here, it is quite obvious how well the horses have conditioned in the last five weeks, and I am predicting a great season ahead for the Te Akau Racing team.

Yesterday evening, Jamie sent me a photo that really made me happy. It was of Paul Richards and our Racing Manager, Libby Richards, having a well-deserved glass of bubbles together. Paul has been away from home for about 10 weeks looking after our horses in Australia and has spent the last two weeks in isolation in an Auckland airport hotel room. Welcome home, Paul! It is great to have you back. 

This week we have been busy on the farm too - weighing and drenching cattle and crutching 3500 sheep. When you are a farmer, the one thing that is always on your mind is the weather. It is always either too wet or too dry, too cold or too hot! 

We are pretty lucky at Te Akau Stud right now - our grass is just flourishing and it looks as though we have some really good rain coming in. 

If the rain arrives this weekend, we will finish up with a terrific amount of grass going into winter.

I hope you all are behaving yourselves while on Level 3! Until next week, have a great weekend everyone and ...

GO THE TANGERINE!

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