Te Akau Midweek Update
Date: 26 Oct 2022
David writes:
It was another great weekend for Te Akau Racing, with five wins on Saturday - two at Te Rapa, two at Riccarton and one in Singapore. We also had four runners up in Group races with Romancing the Moon, Campionessa, Cognito and Markus Aurelius and overall, five second placings. With a little more luck it really could have been a sensational day. However, winning five races for our owners plus the Group 2 James and Annie Sarten Memorial at Te Rapa was a day to be proud of. Of our horses, our owners and our whole team.
The other good news is that the tracks have now begun to improve, so watch the team really hit its straps as the our horses start striking tracks more suitable.
Te Akau continues to lead the Trainers' Premiership in New Zealand with Mark Walker recording 48 wins - 28 ahead of the next stable. This includes four Group/Listed races, leading the way in New Zealand. Importantly for our owners, Te Akau has once again become the first stable to go over the $1 million in domestic stakes' earnings.
NZ Trainers' Premiership (as at 26.10.22 - source NZTR)
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.
| Wins | 2nds | 3rds | Stakes | Starts | G & L | SR | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Walker | 48 | 41 | 32 | $1,236,232 | 288 | 4 | 6 |
| 2 | Kevin Myers | 20 | 19 | 15 | $698,240 | 129 | 2 | 6.45 |
| 3 | Stephen Marsh | 17 | 23 | 25 | $543,695 | 205 | 0 | 12.06 |
| 4 | Andrew Forsman | 13 | 16 | 11 | $659,432 | 90 | 3 | 6.92 |
| 5 | Ken Rae & Krystal Williams | 10 | 5 | 4 | $214,265 | 55 | 0 | 5.5 |
| 6 | Robbie Patterson | 10 | 2 | 3 | $136,655 | 28 | 0 | 2.8 |
| 7 | Lance Robinson | 9 | 4 | 8 | $172,030 | 47 | 0 | 5.22 |
| 8 | Team Rogerson | 8 | 7 | 5 | $184,150 | 90 | 0 | 11.25 |
| 9 | Terri Rae | 8 | 7 | 2 | $143,255 | 35 | 0 | 4.38 |
| 10 | Shaune Ritchie & Colm Murray | 8 | 1 | 8 | $135,165 | 45 | 0 | 5.63 |
| 11 | Leonard Stewart | 7 | 3 | 5 | $101,315 | 49 | 0 | 7 |
| 12 | Jo Rathbone | 7 | 2 | 2 | $98,200 | 24 | 0 | 3.43 |
| 13 | Tony Pike | 6 | 12 | 10 | $178,210 | 71 | 0 | 11.83 |
| 14 | Johno Benner & Hollie Wynyard | 6 | 4 | 2 | $104,705 | 26 | 0 | 4.33 |
| 15 | Allan Sharrock | 6 | 4 | 1 | $255,410 | 28 | 1 | 4.67 |
Our win in Singapore sees our Te Akau Singapore stable lead the Trainers' Premiership there too - with our trainer Donna Logan on 55 wins - while she is tied for first, on count-back she leads the table as she has recorded a whopping 60 second placings, to the other stable's 38 runner up results. Only six meetings to go for the season and we will be cheering Donna and our team home!
The biggest thrill Karyn and I got in the weekend was seeing Wild Night win the $120,000 Group 2 James and Annie Sarten Memorial at Te Rapa! Julia-Rose, our daughter, syndicated a number of shares in "Morrie" (as we know him) to a group of her friends and most of them were at Te Rapa to cheer Wild Night home, and cheer they surely did!! It really is exciting to see young people enjoy their racing and being in the winner's circle.
I was also pleased to see our Karaka 2YO Million colt winner Dynastic run on very strongly for third in the Group 2 - he now heads south to contest the Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas at Riccarton on 5 November.
On the farm, we are selling a unit of steers (40) to Greenlea today and another load on Friday. The grass at Te Akau Stud has really taken off in the last few weeks.
Yesterday we drenched and crutched the ewe hoggets, crutched the rams and crutched the five year old ewes, and their lambs which were drenched - today we start on the mixed-age ewes. Since the lambs have had some sun on their backs, they have really thrived and we will be having our first draft in a couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, our broodmares have been busy foaling and we now have 12 foals on the ground and only four mares left to foal. Our mares who we are mating are currently being served, or waiting to be served by their stallion of choice and we cannot wait to welcome them and their babies home - below is our latest arrival, a Darci Brahma colt.
Tomorrow I am off to the Melbourne Cup Carnival and I will be at Flemington on Derby and Cup day, then only home for two days before I head to Christchurch for the Cup Carnival.
My bedtime reading is the Ready to Run Sale catalogue which takes place at Karaka on 16-17 November. We are going to buy a couple of nice two year olds at this sale so if you are keen to be involved, please feel free to call Karyn or me at any time, or email [email protected] so she can keep you up to date with our purchases.
This is the sale from which we have bought Group 1 Champions such as Te Akau Shark, Gingernuts and Hall of Fame.
Best of luck to all our owners with runners this weekend and ...