Te Akau Midweek Update

David writes:

Recently I gave my views on the Avondale Jockey Club's decision to allow an Australian sales' company to use its course to start a rival Ready to Run Sale to the one staged by New Zealand Bloodstock.

I stand by everything I said and make this further point - if you were a trainer in Singapore or Hong Kong, you probably wouldn't go to both sales.  You would either go to Sydney or to Karaka, it is very unlikely you would go to both.  So this second sale must have some impact on the prices at Karaka - why would a New Zealand racing club do this when so many local horse people rely on this sale for their livelihood?

It doesn't make sense to me.

I would however like to thank everyone who commented on my article on various websites and through social media.  It is great that they maintain such an interest in our website at a time of the year when there isn't a lot happening on the racing scene.  I can tell you that the vast majority of people that I have spoken to completely agree with my view - it is not about being anti-competitive, it is about the well-being of our industry.

Yesterday morning I bought a Pins colt out of Lowland (see below) from Waikato Stud's Mark Chittick for $120,000.  He was fully sold in under 60 minutes and we have a waiting list for the shares.  I also bought a Darci Brahma filly yesterday from Mana Park for Fortuna Syndicates - both of these horses will be transferred to Te Akau Racing in Matamata tomorrow.

Last night I took Karyn out for dinner in Auckland to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary - we had a lovely evening with friends at Antoines, a restaurant that I have been going to since 1974 and it is still world class.