Te Akau Melbourne Cup Day Update
6 November, 2018
David writes:
Melbourne Cup day is always a fun day! I've been to 27 Melbourne Cups in a row now, and used to love the week of racing, but we start shearing tomorrow so it's all hands on deck at the farm this year.
I think we have had five runners over the years in the tangerine in the Melbourne Cup, with the best being in 1993 with Te Akau Nick, who finished second to Vintage Crop. This was the very first year that a European horse won the race.
Karyn and I are really looking forward to the New Zealand Cup Carnival starting this weekend.
We have three runners in the Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas on Saturday, all with great form. Publicist, a last start winner, will be ridden by Jason Laking who has done an outstanding job for us riding track work at Riccarton.
In a Twinkling, who Suppy (Shafiq Rusof) will ride, has a really good chance after his really top run at Riccarton in the Listed Zacinto Stakes - he was wide for most of the trip and is improving all the time. The same goes for Sword of Osman, who won the Group 2 James and Annie Sarten Memorial at Te Rapa at his last start, and will be ridden by stable jockey, Opie Bosson.
We will have eight or nine runners at Riccarton on Saturday, plus some chances at Te Rapa, including a really good 2YO filly by Savabeel that I bought at Karaka for Brendan and Jo Lindsay. It's an exciting time of the year, and quite easily my favourite.
Tonight, at about midnight, Sword of Osman and Te Akau Shark will leave our Matamata stable and head to Auckland Airport for their flight south to Christchurch. Opie went to Matamata yesterday morning to give them both their final gallop and was really happy with them both. They galloped on the course proper.
We are so lucky at Matamata with the world class facilities that we have. This morning for example, we could work on the course proper on the best plough I have ever seen or one of two sand tracks, a two year old grass track or the all weather track.
With only 500 horses trained at Matamata, we are really spoilt that the staff who prepare the Matamata track are world class, and at Te Akau we are very appreciative of their hard work.
Also, we have the swimming pool to vary the horses' work, plus a new treadmill that really helps some horses. And just down the road, we have a water walker, so we have facilities to cater to every horse.
Today is my beautiful wife's birthday. Happy Birthday, Karyn, and I hope you back the Melbourne Cup winner.