Te Akau Midweek Update

David writes:

After a busy two days of looking at yearlings in the Cambridge/ Matamata area, we finished the day yesterday at Valachi Downs where we had a beautiful evening with Kevin and Jo Hickman and our Racing Manager Jamie Richards.

Valachi Downs is a beautiful 300 acre property located eight minutes out of Matamata - situated on really good rolling country.  Last season Kevin was named the New Zealand Breeder of the Year - an unbelievable achievement.

This year Kevin sent 64 mares to stud - it is difficult to describe how fortunate the industry is to have investors such as Kevin Hickman so committed to it.  It is also great to see Valachi Downs' Manager Jonathan Scully taking the property to another level.  He has done an outstanding job and the yearlings look really great.

I was at the Matamata track this morning and enjoyed seeing our Ready to Run horses have their first jump outs of the raceday stalls.  They ran 600m at three quarter pace and then they just cantered round to the winning post - we really have bought some lovely horses.

The Matamata track was in particularly good order with the new irrigation system which I think will help take that Club to the next level.

It was also great to see one of my old pals Mike Graham who now runs the swimming pool at the track - Mike was the foreman at Te Akau 25 years ago and he is the brother of Donna Logan who trains Volkstok'n'barrell - our main competition in the big races at Ellerslie in the next six weeks.

Talking to all the trainers at Matamata this morning it appears they have all had a really frustrating Spring and early Summer with horses getting colds and coughs which we also haven't missed.  That is now behind us so we are looking forward to the coming weeks as a number of our nice 2YOs will be in business ready to race.

One of those includes the Exceed and Excel colt that I purchased from Bob Emery at Sydney who is now called Unsurpassed and a Fastnet Rock filly I bought for Carol Marshall and Bob Morris at the Karaka Sale - now called Special Memories.

This afternoon we sent another unit of steers to Greenlea which is owned by Peter and Joan Egan and they have works in Hamilton and Morrinsville - I sell 99% of my cattle to this company and we have another unit of bulls going tomorrow or Friday.

One thing that is apparent as I am driving around looking at these yearlings is that there is certainly going to be some terrific value at Karaka - it will certainly be a buyer's market in my opinion - so if you are interested in getting involved a good type of yearling this is the year to do it.

This afternoon at the farm we have been going over all the horses that have been spelling and all the staff are handling the foals and I know I keep saying it but let me assure you that these Burgundys and Rock 'n' Pops are the real deal - I just can't wait until this time next year when we can start breaking them in as they really look good racehorses in the making to me.

So tomorrow it is off to Curraghmore, Phoenix Park and Pencarrow Stud and then on Friday it is Windsor Park and Brighthill and then I have an important engagement on Saturday when I give away my eldest daughter at her wedding.

I will give you an update on the wedding on Monday!  Have a great weekend!