Te Akau Midweek Update

David writes:

What an incredibly exciting day it was for Te Akau Racing at Awapuni, Palmerston North on Saturday.

To win back to back Group 1 Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes (our fourth win in this race) and the Group 2 Awapuni Gold Cup (also our fourth win in this race) on the same day is a great achievement for any stable.  It was also the second time that we have won both of these races on the same day - in 2005 we did this with Distinctly Secret and Kindacross.  Te Akau has now won more stakes' races (16) and more prizemoney in New Zealand than any other stable and we have the second best strike rate of the top 15 trainers - as you can see from the Trainers' Premiership table below (source NZTR today).

I always get an extra special thrill out of winning Group 1 races with horses that I have bought and Avantage's win was the fifth Group 1 winner we have had this season and all have come via horses I have purchased:

GINGERNUTS - winner of the Group 1 Windsor Park Plate at Hawkes Bay

EMBELLISH - winner of the Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas at Riccarton (where Te Akau horses were 1st, 2nd and 4th)

AGE OF FIRE - winner of the Group 1 Levin Classic at Trentham - won by the stable last season with another colt I purchased, Hall of Fame

SWORD OF OSMAN - winner of the Group 1 Sistema Stakes at Ellerslie

AVANTAGE - winner of the Group 1 Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes at Awapuni, won last year by Melody Belle who I also bought

Karyn is the syndicate manager for Avantage (and Sword of Osman) so I was thrilled for her and all of Avantage's owners - what a ride they have had!  The only time this beautiful filly has been beaten was at Ellerslie in the Group 1 Sistema Stakes when she was second to her stablemate Sword of Osman from a hopelessly wide draw.

Didn't Danielle Johnson ride Avantage beautifully? but what an extraordinary chain of events that saw her end up riding our filly.

Our stable rider Opie Bosson rode Avantage to victory in the Karaka Million but decided to ride Sword of Osman due to weight considerations for the Sistema.  So Matt Cameron was aboard at Elleslie in the Sistema - Matt gave her such a beautiful ride that he was engaged for Awapuni.  However Matt got suspended so I told Michael McNab (who rode our winner in the Sires last year) that he could ride her but then he got suspended!  Then I told Shafiq Rusof that he had the ride but he had already taken the ride on Handsome Rebel - so then I immediately got in touch with Danielle as she always rides so well in the tangerine.

With three runners in the Group 1, we had three staff join Jamie Richards to look after our starters - Kerry Jones, Teina Walters and Tegan Newman.  Tegan was in charge of Avantage and I just love seeing how excited the team gets when they have a Group winner!  Kerry Jones also looked after our Group 2 winner Our Abbadean - this is a lovely mare that we were given to train by the Hawkins' family of Wentwood Grange and it was such a thrill to get this black type for her - it is just so important for future broodmares and their value.  This mare isn't the most straightforward to train and Kerry has done a great job handling her.  I was very excited to win the Awapuni Gold Cup for Des and Janet as the Hawkins' family always support our stable.

It was also great for Stephen Autridge to finish the week on a high with his 1000th winner during the week as well as another Group 1 and a Group 2 after such a sad time for him and Lynley and the family.

In my first year out of school I lived in the Central Districts in Bulls while attending Flock House Agricultural School - I never missed a race meeting at Awapuni and a couple of years later when I attended Massey University to undertake a Diploma in Agriculture, again I never missed a meeting there!

Awapuni also has a special significance for Karyn - when we first announced our engagement we went to Awapuni and we won the Awapuni Gold Cup with Distinctly Secret that day.  We then married three months later and I gave Karyn a share in that horse as my wedding present to her - 12 months later he won the Cup a second time and that was Karyn's first win as an owner - and a Group race at that!

It is a very busy week on the farm as on Friday, I am away to Sydney with Karyn for Derby Day at Randwick and also the Sydney Easter Sale.  This morning I was up in a helicopter at 6.30am showing the pilot where he needed to do some weed spraying and then I took a fertiliser truck around to show the driver the areas I wanted to fertilise.  Then I was in the gym for an hour before heading to Auckland for a business meeting.

Jamie Richards is currently in Sydney putting the final touches on Mongolianconqueror for the Derby on Saturday - he is also inspecting yearlings entered in the Sydney Easter Sale before I arrive to go through my short list - while Steve is looking after the ship at Matamata.

Last Thursday I purchased a stunning Showcasing filly out of the paddock and she is currently being broken in at Haunui Farm.  She is the fifth yearling that I have bought from Haunui this year and she looks a really good type.  She sold in record time - so fast in fact that we didn't have time to put her on our website for sale!  It was a Te Akau record I think, smashing the previous one being under an hour.

So if you are keen to have a share in a yearling from Sydney - and you want to be on our priority list so Karyn can email you the moment we purchase, please do get in touch with Karyn today - [email protected]

Tomorrow we are very excited to see a Makfi filly that I bought from the Ready to Run Sale have her first start - she is called Ristretto and I was commissioned to buy her by her syndicate manager Julia-Rose Ellis - good luck with this filly team - she has won her two trials to date in very smart fashion and here's hoping she will be another special girl!  The other filly of course that Julia-Rose manages is the stakes' performer Gris Dame.

Have a greeat week everyone and best of luck to all our owners in the Group 1 Derby in Sydney on Saturday!!

GO THE TANGERINE!!

Premierships are based on performances during each racing season (August 1st - July 31st). The jockey and trainer with the most wins at the end of the season are the Premiership winners.