Te Akau Midweek Update from Sydney

David writes:

Well Sydney is miserable no longer - in fact they are predicting temperatures of up to 35 degrees today and we are already at the Inglis sales' complex undertaking some further inspections.

The sale here started yesterday and finished with day 1 being quite a success although it was very, very slow to get going and seemed to take an age to wind up - as is normally the case.

The Te Akau team struck early and bought a stunning Stratum colt out of Princess Narine for A$200,000 and if ever I have seen a colt made to be a stallion, this fellow is.  Stratum, from a limited number of runners, has already left a Group 1 Golden Slipper winner and about 28 stakes' winners.

This colt was excellent buying as I seized the opportunity early in the sale and when you take a look at his pedigree it is jam-packed with successful sires - Redoute's Choice, Manhattan Rain, Platinum Scissors, Echoes of Heaven.

We have more horses to bid on at this sale for our stallion syndicate that we are putting together.

We were all thrilled with the way the horses trialled yesterday, in most cases, and can see lots of winners coming in the next months.  Some of the horses that really impressed me - just to single out a handful - were Wide Awake (a Savabeel gelding that we bought at Karaka last year) and a Savabeel colt out of Around the Clock that we bought at the Ready to Run Sale who looks to have an exciting future, as does the Iffraaj gelding that we bought at the same sale - he also trialled up nicely. It was also terrific to see Grandeur, the half brother to Darci Brahma trial so strongly - he has needed time to grow into his body and we are not far away from him racing either.

Of the fillies I was really impressed with Fastnet Fire - this filly has always show a ton of potential but has had a couple of little hiccups but I can see she is on the verge of winning some nice races and I am confident that in the spring she will go on to win black type.  Affinee, an Exceed and Excel filly I bought at Karaka, won her trial well and Primrose, a Saperavi filly, showed that she is not far away from winning races, claiming her trial too in strong fashion. It's Our Showtime, a Showcasing filly I bought privately for Fortuna Syndicators, was also stylish in her win.

We will give you a full report on the sales this time tomorrow - and shortly we will give you all the details on our striking Stratum colt - or you can pop across to our "Yearlings and Shares" section!