Te Akau Midweek Update

David writes:

On Monday we hosted our annual North Island Owners' Event at Matamata and what a fun afternoon it was!

We had a huge turnout of about 100 friends to celebrate not only the upcoming festive season, but also the brilliant start to the season that Te Akau Racing has had in both New Zealand and Australia with Jamie and our Matamata team.

With Mark Walker being able to attend as he was home for his mother's birthday, it was also terrific for everyone to be able to catch up on Mark's news, and congratulate him on closing in this month on his third Trainer's Premiership title in nine years. A real credit to Mark and our whole Kranji team.

There was a lot to celebrate including the amazing success of Melody Belle winning the Hawkes' Bay Triple Crown as well as the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes in Melbourne, her 10th Group 1 title.

We then paraded some of the horses from the Ready to Run Sale and enjoyed catching up with Te Akau Shark who is now back in the stable. I know everyone also enjoyed catching up with their horses that are in the stable too - as well as our team members, many of who were able to join us.

Everyone who was present was impressed with what I call the "two colts of the Ready to Run Sale" and I keep coming back to them - our Savabeel colt and our Pierro colt. These two are as good a type as you will ever see!! Make no mistake about that!!

These two colts, who are in a syndicate together, are simply a wonderful example of equine excellence. Gee I was impressed with how they have settled in to the stable life already at Te Akau Racing. You think they'd lived with us forever - very happy and contented.

Our trackwork riders report that both of these colts have beautiful actions and feel top class working around the Matamata track.

There are two interesting points I would like to share - the Pierro colt is out of a Redoute's Choice mare - this cross is running at 19% stakes' horses to runners which is a phenomenal achievement.

The Savabeel colt is the first foal out of an Iffraaj mare - the last 'first foal from an Iffraaj mare' I purchased was of course Melody Belle!!

These lads are two belters and yes they cost some money but for the quality that they are, and the rich pedigrees they boast, I thought they were good value, especially when you look around the world at what this type of class colt can cost.

My aim is to keep them as colts and to win Group 1 races with them, with a view to them having future stallion careers. We have had good success in this arena with horses such as Darci Brahma, Xtravagant, Burgundy, Heroic Valour, Embellish and others all now standing at stud after winning Group 1 races.

I can see these two colts racing by the end of January - shares in these two have sold very quickly and there is now only 20% available. This really is an opportunity that you don't want to miss out on. Class, quality, future.

Another really lovely young horse that I purchased at the Ready to Run Sale is Lot 51, a Proisir gelding out of Maakel. He was superb buying and we have three Proisir's in the stable that we rate highly. This is another quality horse who actually reminds me of Gingernuts.

A 10% share in him is only $8,000 +GST and a 5% share only $4,000 - so treat yourself or your favourite person to the perfect Christmas present and email [email protected] now.

In farm news, we had our first fat lamb draft yesterday and sent 650 lambs away - and we are sending a truck and trailer of cattle to Greenlea most days.

Yesterday too we had the most beautiful early Christmas gift, with two hours of good rain at Te Akau Stud. This has really put a smile on my face - good rain in December is worth a fortune.

On Monday night the Northern District had its Annual Apprentice Awards and we are thrilled that our Te Akau apprentice Chelsea Burdan was recognised with an award - we have the full story coming up - well done Chelsea, we are very proud of you. Hard work always pays off!

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