Te Akau Midweek Update

David writes:

It was terrific to host the TV One Breakfast team at Matamata on Tuesday morning with sports' reporter Brodie Kane hosting the live coverage.

Initially the broadcast was going to take place from our stable but the way that the satellite had to be set up technically, meant that they had to broadcast from the track but I was delighted to see our local training centre showcased (and looking in great order) on national TV.

Our daughter Julia-Rose, who is in charge of our marketing and social media, was on hand before 5.30am with our Te Akau team to meet with the TVNZ crew and it was a fun morning.

The highlight for us was seeing Gingernuts in the spotlight, both in the pool and parading behind Brodie during her interview with our co-trainer Jamie Richards.

Even our lead pony Zane (below) had his moment of fame later in the programme when Brodie jumped on board for her first ride since she was about six!

After the programme finished, Gingernuts was filmed by the VRC (Victorian Racing Club) and Australian Channel Seven TV crew for the future promotion of this year's Melbourne Cup.  Scott Seamer, the Melbourne Cup winning rider of Sir Peter and Philip Vela's great mare Ethereal, was also on hand to introduce Gingernuts to "The Cup" and vice-versa.

It is incredible how quickly 2017 seems to be disappearing!  Already we are a week in to the new season and so much momentum is building with the entire Te Akau team.

The overall performances of the Te Akau Te Teko trials' team (38 of them) last week gave us plenty of satisfaction and we can't wait until the tracks start improving and racing in earnest gets underway.  We also have a good number of horses that will trial this month at venues from Avondale to Te Teko.

All of the yearlings that we have bred or purchased this year have now completed their early education and the reports from the team are really exciting - the calibre of youngsters that we have coming through the stable ranks is probably our best ever - we just can't wait!  Combined with that we have our experienced horses and emerging three year olds - plenty waiting in the wings to show us what they are made of.

Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker and his team just keep on winning, making just about every single racing weekend a winning one.  Last weekend Mark won two more races at Kranji taking him to 63 wins for the season and keeping him well ahead on the Trainers' Premiership which he leads by a phenomenal 21 wins!

On the Sunday meeting, the first two races were won by horses that I had selected and purchased - the first being a mare called Honor (4 m Rip Van Winkle - Bak Da Princess, by Danske) and the further she went in the race over 1000 metres on the polytrack the more she was winding into her work.  To win in such a manner is very encouraging for a mare bred to excel over extra distance.

I purchased Honor for $80,000 at the 2015 NZB Premier Sale from the draft of Blandford Lodge.  She is a half-sister to Group 1 Easter Handicap winner Pondarosa Miss who also finished third in the Group 1 Auckland Cup and Group 1 Zabeel Classic, and Ecuador who is a consistent stakes' performing winner of ten races in Sydney.  I bought this filly because she was a very athletic and classy individual that we all really liked during our inspections and the family just continues to improve and leave winners of very good races.

Safeer, who won the very next race, is from the famous Eight Carat family, one of the best producing families that has ever been seen in New Zealand - being from the same family as champion three-year-old, Cox Plate winner and Australian Horse of the Year Octagonal, stallion Kaapstad, hugely talented Group One sprinter Diamond Lover and nine time winner Marquise.  You just cannot get a better pedigree than this and the stallions on the dam side are of the highest order.  I purchased this colt for $280,000 at the Ready to Run Sale, the same sale where I bought Group 1 winners Gingernuts and Hall of Fame the year prior.

On Monday night I will be joining our stable team at Matamata for the annual Racing Matamata awards.  The Club hosts these every year to celebrate the horses and people based at the Matamata training centre who have had a season to remember.  Last year Team Te Akau took home plenty of trophies including Champion 2YO, Champion 3YO, Champion Sprinter/Miler, Champion Trainer, Champion Jumper, Champion Jumps' Jockey, Owner of the Year and Horse of the Year (Xtravagant).

It is not all about awards BUT I do really enjoy seeing the very hard work of all of our team rewarded when our horses and our people are recognised - they really put in the hard yards and I know how proud they are when the horses they are so dedicated to are recognised in this way.

It's not long now until the New Zealand Horse of the Year awards either on 10 September in Auckland   and we will be there to cheer on our nominees - for Champion 2YO Melody Belle and Gold Fever; Champion 3YO Gingernuts and Champion Stayer Gingernuts - all three are thus eligible for the Horse of the Year title.

The weather this week on the farm has been very good but that all changed today and it was very wet, with steady rain for most of the day.  One of the highlights on such a bleak day was the arrival of my eldest daughter Joanna who brought her eight week old baby daughter Ella down to meet us for the first time, with Ella's 'big brother' Ted, who is almost two.

Have a great week everyone and stay dry and warm!