Te Akau Midweek Update

David writes:

What an exciting week it has been for everyone at Te Akau - Saturday certainly has the potential to be one of the most significant in our almost 40-year history.

With 10 runners lining up at Riccarton, two at Royal Randwick in Sydney, one at Flemington in Melbourne and three at Hawke's Bay - we certainly will all be glued to TVs no matter where we are.

What an absolute credit to all of our hard working team in New Zealand - I cannot tell you how proud I am of Jamie and everyone who works so hard to deliver days like this.

All of the Te Akau runners in the Group 1 races trans-Tasman are favourites or highly favoured for their events - Te Akau Shark and Probabeel in Sydney and our darling of the turf, Melody Belle in New Zealand.

We also have Te Akau Caliburn chasing Group 3 spoils in Melbourne, where he too is highly regarded in the "Bart Cummings". We also have Aotea Lad - runner up in the Karaka Million and Group 2 winner when on debut last season - vying for Group 2 Hawke's Bay Guinea honours.

Sadly the "barrier Gods" have been grumpy this week, especially in Australia, with our horses copping what used to be known as the "visitors' draw" - Te Akau Shark has drawn out wide (16) while Probabeel draws six of six, Te Akau Caliburn 14 of 14 and Aotea Lad 11 of 11. Only Melody Belle has escaped with a magic draw - barrier two.

I have however never been one to worry about things like barrier draws as they are outside my control - we have that job in the hands of some of the world's best who are riding for us this weekend - Opie Bosson, James McDonald, Kerrin McEvoy and Damien Lane.

Our stable jockey Opie Bosson certainly won't get beaten on Saturday for lack of fitness! This morning for example, he rode ten of our horses in track work and came out to Te Akau Stud and did an intensive hour in my gym. Opie is working so hard, he deserves all the success that comes his way!

Melody Belle of course stands on the cusp of true glory - if she can win on Saturday she will become the only horse ever to win the Triple Crown at Hastings - many good horses have tried and failed e.g. Starcraft who came tantalisingly close when runner up in the final leg. If she can achieve this feat, she will write herself into racing history.

Likewise if Melody Belle, who we know as "Valerie" (stable named after great athlete Dame Valerie Adams) can win the Group 1 Livamol on Saturday, she will assume the honour of the horse who has won the most New Zealand Group 1 races. She currently shares that stage with (King) Mufhasa with eight Group 1's apiece. He was a two time Horse of the Year in New Zealand.

If Melody Belle can win, she will become our fourth victor in the Livamol - which when known as the Kelt we won with Distinctly Secret (a gelding I bred) and Princess Coup, who I purchased, was a dual winner. Can you believe that when Princess Coup won her two Kelt's when trained by Mark Walker, both races were worth $2 million? Back in 2003 when Distinctly Secret won, the purse was $750,000. Princess Coup actually still holds the record for the highest ever domestic stakes' earnings.

My job of course is to buy the horses for the stable and all the horses running in these Group races on Saturday were purchased by me. I have to say, that seeing a day like Saturday is really rewarding. Even if we don't win a race - and they are always hard to win at the elite level - I have done my part and it gives me just so pride to see these horses develop to be worthy of their places in these events.

It certainly will be a very exciting day too for all of our owners who are involved in all of our runners - stakes' races and every other race where the tangerine steps out. To all our owners who invested in these horses - well done and thank you - and the very best of luck on Saturday.

Best of luck too, to our team that has done such an outstanding job educating, training and caring and nurturing our horses - at the stable and at the farm. To have runners in all of these major races just couldn't happen without your dedication. You guys are truly awesome!! We cannot tell you how appreciated you are by Karyn and by me and by all of our owners! A massive THANK YOU!! This includes our veterinary and farrier and other specialist teams as well - very important partners!

A special congratulations also goes to our Te Akau New Zealand trainer Jamie Richards - in only his second season as sole Te Akau trainer, he has favoured runners in two Group 1 races in Sydney, a Group 1 and Group 2 at Hastings and a Group 3 in Melbourne.

It's also a thrill to see both Jamie and Mark leading their respective Trainers' Premierships - in New Zealand the season hasn't long been underway but Jamie has won the only two Group 1's to date and is in front on the table. In Singapore, Mark has a dominant lead that looks nigh on unassailable with the season due to conclude in December. Now that is SOME effort and shows how well both teams are going.

With Jamie in Sydney on Saturday, Karyn and I head to Hastings to cheer Melody Belle and our other Hawke's Bay runners on. Plus we love the "Bay" in the Spring. It is always a special weekend and a lot of fun as we spend it with very good friends and our daughter Julia Rose and son in law Hamish.

Hawkes' Bay is a great Club that is managed by one of the very best you will find in the world of racing, Andrew (Butch) Castles. His racing knowledge and expertise knows no bounds and we wish him and his team a fantastic grand finale to the carnival.

There have been plenty of heavy rainfalls on the farm this week and we are waiting for the weather to clear as once the fine weather arrives, we will drench and dag the lambs and all the ewes will be drenched as well.

The grass is really starting to take off now so the farmer in me is very happy, especially with the cattle putting on around 1.5kgs per day!!

Have a great week - and best of luck to all our runners, riders and owners on Friday at Te Rapa and Kranji, on Saturday in Sydney, Melbourne, Hastings and Riccarton and Sunday at Te Teko and Kranji!

GO THE TANGERINE!!

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