Te Akau Monday Update

David writes:

Finally we had some rain at Te Akau Stud last Thursday and Friday - we got 78mls of much-needed precipitation however we need lots more!

The amazing thing is that even though the grass had gone off and the paddocks were so dry, the cattle have still put on about 1.45kgs each day.  We are sending off four units of cattle to Greenlea this week and will keep this up for another month.

Today I am back on the yearling inspection road and I started the day at Valachi Downs, then Mapperley and then after lunch it was Blandford Lodge.  I am staying in Matamata tonight as we will inspect Waikato Stud's draft on Tuesday which is a full day and then on Wednesday we will do Lyndhurst Farm, Mana Park and Pencarrow Stud.  In between I have owners from Hong Kong coming to stay at the farm on Tuesday night.

Next week we will have the task almost completed with nearly 800 yearlings in book one individually seen, viewed and assessed.

Yesterday morning our co-trainer Jamie Richards flew to the Gold Coast to inspect a short-list of yearlings for me.  Whether I go over later this week is doubtful but I still like to know how the top lots from that sale, in my view, compare to what I have my eye on at Karaka.

Speaking of Karaka - how proud are we!  Last year as you know we won the Karaka Million with Melody Belle, a filly I purchased for $57,500.  This year Te Akau has six of the top 15, or seven of the top 18, 2YOs in the Karaka Million Order of Entry.  We will very likely have five young horses contest this iconic 2YO event on the eve of the Sale!  We also have the favourite for the Karaka 3YO Mile - also worth $1 million for the first time this year - in Embellish, our Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas' winner.

Age of Fire who was runner up in the Guineas is not eligible for the Karaka Mile, having been bought by me in Sydney so he heads towards this weekend's Group 1 Levin Classic at Trentham.  We won that race last year, one of our six Group 1 victories in 2017, with Hall of Fame.  Age of Fire too is currently the TAB favourite for that event.

I can't wait for the Wellington Cup Carnival - Karyn and I will be on course for the second day on Saturday week - we cannot be in attendance this Saturday as we have a very important family engagement with Julia-Rose's baby shower and her sister Lydia and her partner Jamie arriving from London that day too!  However we will be at Ellerslie on Sunday and look forward to seeing many of you there.

Have a great week!