Te Akau Midweek Update

David writes:

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the number of people who tell us that they read our website daily and are disappointed when I haven't given a daily update!

Well this time I do have an excuse!  We have been flat out and all over the place geographically!

On Friday, Julia-Rose, her partner Hamish and I met Karyn at the Te Rapa races.  We were thrilled to win another race with Highly Likely.  This was the 80th win for horses that we have purchased and trained for John Galvin's Fortuna Syndicates.  Congratulations to everyone in the Highly Likely team.  Eighty races is an unbelievable achievement and with the horses they have in work with Te Akau Racing in New Zealand and Singapore, 100 wins is just around the corner.

Speaking of 100 wins - with Lady Painton winning on Sunday - Te Akau Racing has now won 92 races since 1 January in New Zealand and Singapore.  Our 100 for the calendar year is very close by!

After Te Rapa, Julia-Rose and Hamish and I drove to Hawke's Bay to be ready for the races at Hastings on the Saturday.  On Friday night we settled in to catch some of the Singapore racing action.  We had another great night there with Mark and the team - winning on the track but also winning on paper.

On the track our winner was Q Nine Maxim, a horse owned by Paul and Leanne Richards, yes Jamie's parents.  On paper, we have been credited with a win for a horse called Deluge.  He finished second in a race quite some time ago and the winner of that race subsequently returned a positive swab and has now been disqualified.  This means that Deluge has been promoted to first - a great result for the horse, his owners and Mark to get the win - albeit not the way we like to win.

In Hawke's Bay we stayed in a villa at Black Barn - just an unbelievably beautiful part of the world.  We enjoyed going to the Hawke's Bay races - they had a good crowd on course and a great atmosphere was enjoyed by all.  Well done to Butch Castles and the team, the racing was first class.

Two of our three Hastings' runners put up top class performances - Love Triangle went a super race at just her second start and in black type company too.  I thought that Scrutinize who ran second in the Group 2 Hawke's Bay Guineas was outstanding, roaring home from well back in the field from an awkward draw.  Both of these horses are thriving and will win really nice races this year.

We enjoyed watching the Riccarton races (which were also being staged) on the TV at Hastings.  We had four runners who delivered two first and two second placings - a great result!  Both Special Memories and Risque, who quinellaed the Guineas' Trial, showed that they are bang on target for the Group 1 NZ 1000 Guineas.

I was also thrilled to see Flaming win so well - this was the second win in a week with a horse that we train for Auckland Racing Club CEO Cameron George who has shares in both Flaming and Love Actually.  Love Actually was one of two winners that Jamie Richards saddled up at Ruakaka on Wednesday last week.  The other was the Greg Tomlinson bred and owned filly Thetruthisoutthere, who is racing for one of Adrian Clark's syndicates.

Then on Sunday Lady Painton won at Waipa by an amazing 15 lengths for Stan Painton for whom we train a number of horses.  So Steve and Jamie had six winners in five days and altogether Te Akau had eight - with two in Singapore.

Have you noticed just how well Steve and Jamie have our New Zealand horses going?  That reflects on the whole Matamata team - and also the Stud team who look after them when spelling - well done everyone - Te Akau is on fire!

After the Hastings races, Julia-Rose, Hamish and I joined up with Matt Cameron and his partner Blair Alexander and had a very happy evening at Craggy Range Vineyard.

On Sunday morning we were up early to watch Australia play England - I actually felt sorry for the Brits as, despite having the biggest budget and home crowd advantage, they failed to make the play-offs.  That's now in football, cricket and now rugby.

After the rugby, it was time to watch Weigh In, the first programme of a new season that Karyn is hosting every Sunday at 10.00am.  I thought the first programme went really well and has the potential to be a really excellent show.  When Karyn was approached, the programme was on a Monday night so she was very keen - I don't think she would have necessarily been that keen to work on a Sunday morning as it does disrupt the weekend.

We then had something very special to celebrate - at 12.45am on Sunday morning, my eldest daughter Joanna and her husband Leon rang me to tell me that I was a grandfather for the first time as they welcomed their beautiful, healthy baby boy.  So for lunch and to "wet the baby's head" we went to a vineyard (is there a common theme emerging here? - Ed) called Elephant Hill and has a beautiful lunch and celebrated the arrival of my yet-to-be-named grandson.

After lunch we returned back to our lodge and were joined for a drink by my good friends Colin and Alison Jillings and Ivan and Jane Grieve.  Colin is a Hall of Fame trainer and Ivan is a Hawke's Bay farmer.  We have been great mates for many years and it was lovely to catch up.

On Monday morning we were up at 5.30am to drop Hamish at Napier airport as he had an early meeting while Julia-Rose and I drove back to Auckland as I had an appointment with my eye surgeon late that afternoon.  Then another appointment on Tuesday morning and some laser surgery.

After doing our regulatory fresh food shopping in Auckland, I was feeling a little concerned that my eyesight seemed cloudy.  However I am thrilled to say that by last night everything was falling into place and I can now read everything without glasses - that is such a thrill!

Yesterday it was also terrific to welcome one of our great friends and owners Viki Brinkman to the farm with her daughter Jo.  Viki, who is from Christchurch, also came on our Singapore trip this year and it was great to show her around Te Akau Stud for the first time.

Today we have some good chances at the Taupo races and we also have a very important guest coming to stay at the farm, another Hall of Fame trainer Dave O'Sullivan. DJ, as he is known, has never been to the farm before so we are really looking forward to having him to stay.

In fact it is quite a busy social week as well as working week this week - we also have Dave McCarthy, the former Racing Editor of the Christchurch Press and Sam Boyd, our former farm manager, coming to stay.  Plus we have other guests on Friday night and Sunday night so it's a busy few days ahead.

There is currently a lot of talk in racing circles about reducing the number of races and race meetings as a way of increasing stakes.  Naturally I am in favour of stake increases, that is a MUST but doing it by reducing the number of races and race meetings is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!

Fewer races for owners, trainers and jockeys to win is not the way to progress racing in my view - we want more races - but then what would someone who served racing for 25 years, who has spent $30 million at Karaka in the last five years, who owns and operates one of New Zealand's largest stables (that has easily been the most successful stable across the last 10 years) - and employs so many young people - know?  Obviously they think nothing.

I repeat - I am STRONGLY against reducing races and race meetings and I cannot believe they are proposing it.

Back to the good news - Steve and Jamie are now a clear second on the Trainers' Premiership and Mark is well in the lead in Singapore!  Go the tangerine!