Te Akau Midweek Update

David writes:

Yesterday Karyn and I were on the road by 6.30am and drove from the West Coast of the North Island to the East Coast to attend the Te Teko trials.  It took us about 3.5 hours to get there but it was a very worthwhile day.

We were thrilled to see all of our horses have a nice blow out and receive further education.  I was rapt to see the horses looking so well and most are starting to look really good in their coats, as they lose their winter ones!

It was great to catch up with so many of our Te Akau owners who had made the journey - some we were delighted to meet some for the first time.  We won six of the trials but the horses were not there to win trials, they were there for education (in the case of our younger horses) and to improve their fitness levels as they head towards their new campaigns.

I thought it was just super to see Brer win again today at Riccarton Park on the second day of the Grand National Carnival.  Today he won by 5.5 lengths, having won his maiden steeplechase event there last Saturday by some six lengths.  I rang his owner/breeder Peter Grieve half an hour after the race and he was out on his farm docking his lambs!  He said they would do 1500 today, after 1750 yesterday but he went in for lunch so he could watch the race and he and his family got a huge thrill out of seeing Brer go back to back.

It also gives me great pleasure seeing Tommy Hazlett so enjoying being involved with a really good jumper and of course our stable apprentice Daniel Miller rode him a treat - fantastic job.  Tommy and Daniel had once again walked the track this morning and were very confident of another good performance.

Let me tell you how hard Daniel Miller works - yesterday he started work at 4.00am, he rode work until 8.00am and then went back to the stable to assist in loading 30 horses onto the floats for the Te Teko trials.  he then travelled to Te Teko in a horse float for two hours.

Dan was flat out all day at the trials, getting the runners ready, leading them and so forth and then he called into the family home for a shower and then on to the plane at Tauranga at 7.00pm to fly to Christchurch.  He arrived there at about 9.30pm - not a bad day's work for a 16 year old young man!

Well done Dan - you are a champion and don't forget how lucky he is to have Tommy involved in his development.  As I said, Tommy walked the track with Dan this morning and shared his vast knowledge of Riccarton where he himself had ridden so many winners over the fences.  Nobody had more luck riding over the obstacles than Tom Hazlett.

So 2 out of 2 for our Te Akau trainer Jason Bridgman - two starts and two wins - a great start to the season!!