Te Akau Hunting More Guineas' Success

Since Saturday, plenty has been written about the Savabeel colt Noverre (NZ), who took the Te Akau Racing colours to another level with his fetching win in the G1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas at Canterbury. It was a last-to-first victory, one of those memorable efforts for a Classic race, and it had a few emotional facets for Te Akau Principal, David Ellis.

“It was a pretty special day because, firstly, it was my wife Karyn's 60th birthday, and, secondly, the colt was ridden by Opie Bosson, who has worked for me since he was 14 years old,” Ellis said. “He was my apprentice, and Opie was in a situation where he couldn't ride through lockdown because of where he lived. His weight was getting out of hand and he was on the verge of calling it quits, of retiring.”

Ellis sought permission for Bosson to relocate to Te Akau Stud, and the pair hit the gym every day. The ride on Noverre was an enormous incentive for the jockey to get back on the tracks, which he did in time for the 2000 Guineas.

“It was an emotional day when it all turned out and he won,” Ellis said. “It was just fantastic.”

Noverre's Guineas was the seventh for Te Akau Racing.

That extraordinary claim to the race began in 2003 with King's Chapel, and it continued with Darci Brahma (NZ) in 2005, Tell A Tale in 2008, Rock ‘N' Pop in 2011, Xtravagant (NZ) in 2015 and Embellish (NZ) in 2017.

However, this fact alone doesn't exemplify what Te Akau Racing has achieved in these very recent weeks.

“We've had horses racing in five locations the last three months,” Ellis said. “They've been in Melbourne, Sydney and here in New Zealand, and the staff have all worked incredibly hard through that to make it all work. We're thrilled that we've won major races at all those venues in the last month.”

Those victories included Probabeel (NZ) (Savabeel) in the G1 Caulfield S. in Melbourne and Entriviere (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) in the G2 Sheraco S. in Sydney. On New Zealand's North Island, Imperatriz (I Am Invincible) won the G2 Eclipse S. and Savy Yong Blonk (NZ) (Savabeel) the G1 Livamol Classic, while Noverre won the Guineas on the South Island.

Three-year-old colt Noverre is now one of the hot properties for the future stallion market. His seven-start career has resulted in two Group wins and he's close to NZ$360,000 in prizemoney.

Before that, however, Noverre will tackle the Karaka Million 3-Year-Old Classic in January, with the G1 Australian Guineas at Flemington also a possibility, among others.

"After the Karaka Million, there's been nothing set in concrete,” Ellis said. “There are a lot of races in Melbourne and Sydney that would suit this colt, and the 3-year-olds have such a brilliant record in the Doncaster, so that's something we'd love to consider too."

Onwards to the fillies

Big-race wins are a common thread for the hugely successful Te Akau operation, but Ellis never tires of them.

“When you go to the stables and see all the young people working unbelievably hard to bring the results, you see how much goes into these wins,” he said. “It's a big thrill for Karyn and myself, too, because we see the money our owners put in to support these horses, and it's fantastic to see that level of support reach the Group 1 races.”

Ellis said the Classic races, like the Guineas and the G1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas next weekend, were another level again.

“When you are running a professional stable, you need to win these races to have credibility,” he said. “Last season, we won 41 black-type races, including 15 Group 1s, and that's what it's all about, buying horses to compete at this level.”

On Saturday, Te Akau Racing will have five in the field for the 1000 Guineas at Riccarton, headed by the striking favourite Imperatriz for trainer Jamie Richards. The others are Belle En Rouge (NZ) (Burgundy {NZ}), The Perfect Pink (NZ) (Savabeel), Shepherd's Delight (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}) and Irish Red (NZ) (Burgundy {NZ}).

Imperatriz is an Australian-bred filly by I Am Invincible, and she is already a three-time Group winner in New Zealand. Her overall stats read five career starts for four wins, most recently in the 1400 metre G3 Soliloquy S. at Matamata in late October.

Ellis purchased the filly at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2020, paying $360,000 for her from the Bhima draft. Her dam is the Shamardal (USA) mare Berimbau, and her yearling half-sister by Fastnet Rock (now named Cabaca) was sold through the same Sale this year for $300,000 to Magic Bloodstock.

Sales shift

David Ellis is one of the prominent buyers across Australasian sales, and he has been for many years. Despite COVID changing the landscape of New Zealand's sales calendar recently, it's not likely Ellis will be affected too much.

New Zealand Bloodstock (NZB) has shifted its popular Ready to Run Sale to an online format later this month, while the company last week announced that the Premier Yearling Sale, which has traditionally held a slot each January, had been pushed back to early March. The latter was widely welcomed, and by Ellis too.

“I think it's great,” he said. “I'm going to have the first January of my life at the beach. But all jokes aside, New Zealand Bloodstock is as good a company as I've ever dealt with, and they make good decisions for the breeders, buyers and for the whole industry. So I just support whatever they recommend because they're always right.”

Ellis said the time and thought behind the decision was significant, and he had no reason to question it. He said it wouldn't affect the strategies he had for buying horses, and it wouldn't affect the types of horses he targeted.

“I think it will be just the same,” he said. “Obviously, we'll see the horses a little more developed, but I always think the thing about buying yearlings is that you have to imagine what sort of yearling they'll be in three months and six months and 12 months. So it doesn't worry me what time of year it is, as long as everybody can get to the Sale and see a successful result.”

Equally, Ellis isn't concerned about the online format of the upcoming Ready to Run Sale. It's one that's been very good to him in the past, where he's secured horses like Gingernuts (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}) and the late Te Akau Shark (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}).