Te Akau Midweek Update

22 June, 2022

Te Akau Midweek Update

 

David writes:

 

Wow - we had a proper frost in the Waikato this morning! But the good news is that we are now past the 'shortest day'.  Gee winter is a challenging time of the year for our crew, but our team here at the farm and also at the stable is just amazing, and doing such an incredible job.

 

I think it is fair to say we are all looking forward to August and the start of the new racing season.  We really can't wait. From having our serious, experienced horses back, to our emerging young horses developing their careers, to our 'babies' who turn two on 1 August and who will experience trials for the first time as their develop their future racehorse credentials.

Honestly, there is so much eager anticipation from us all, and we know our owners feel exactly the same.

Te Akau has never traditionally had a large winter racing team.  We do have a couple of horses to race on Saturday at Tauranga and three at Rotorua on Sunday. We only have a handful to race in July when the tracks are really heavy.  However, as I said, we have a fabulous team for the new season ahead!

Even though we might not have a large winter racing team, that doesn't stop the fun!  This year Karyn put a Ladies' Syndicate together in response to overwhelming interest in getting a group of ladies together to enjoy racing a filly.  While it is difficult to get those busy ladies together in one place, a good number did get together today with Karyn and our daughter Julia-Rose to enjoy the Auckland Thoroughbred Racing's Lindauer Ladies' Lunch at Pukekohe Park.

 

 

Sadly for the event organisers, the MC fell ill however Karyn 'came out of retirement' in response to a late SOS and ended up as MC!  I am reliably informed that a terrific day was had by all, with plenty more events in the pipeline as our ladies enjoy racing and socialising together - and in due course cheering their Headwater filly home!

I have been very impressed with our yearlings that we have broken in.  Many have now been through the stable twice and I have never seen a better group of young horses, there are some champions amongst them for sure.

We have also been overwhelmed with interest in our home-bred weanlings - shares the three fillies will be available from tomorrow so to our owners, keep an eye out for the email that is coming your way!  We certainly hope they can emulate the deeds of previous weanlings we have offered - such as Group 1 winners Belle En Rouge (NZB Filly of the Year) and Maven Belle, and seven time winner, stakes' performer Burgundy Rose.

 

 

Today at Te Akau Stud there was no wind whatsoever, it was just a stunning day after the brittle frost.  So we have had a helicopter spraying thistles.  Our team has been weighing and drenching the final mob of steers, as well as vaccinating the five-year-old ewes which are due to start lambing in three weeks.

Each Monday at Te Akau Stud we bring four of our 'home-bred' foals in to handle and it's great to see how well mannered they are becoming with the love and care from our stud team.  This season we had 12 foals born in New Zealand, plus two by Xtravagant in NSW at Newhaven Park, and we also purchased two weanlings at Karaka last week - a Savabeel colt and an Ace High filly.

Grass on the farm is still okay, possibly not quite as much as last year for the end of June, but it is still comfortable. Tomorrow our trainer Mark Walker and I will be inspecting all the horses that are spelling on the farm.  Then we are going to have a special dinner with Mark and his partner Mirka and children Zavier, Alexis and Skyler to celebrate Mark's recent milestone birthday!

Our daughter Julia-Rose, supported by Karyn and me, has been very busy organising our Te Akau Soiree at Ellerslie in August.  We are raising funds for the amazing EquiPotential organisation (formerly Hamilton Riding for the Disabled) of which Karyn and I are Co-Patrons.

We have an amazing MC and guest speaker - both very well known identities.  We will be announcing them soon - in the meantime we now only have 20 tickets remaining, over 80% of tickets sold in 48 hours!  It will be an event to remember for sure.  If you are keen to attend, you better move quickly!

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