Te Akau Monday Update

David writes:

What an unbelievable spell of weather we have had. It's funny, but as a farmer who is in the business of growing grass so we can feed the world, I spend plenty of time looking at weather maps to see when the rain is coming to help the grass grow. 

It is the first of June this coming Saturday which signals the start of winter, and we now have plenty of grass which is a relief to go through this season. 

This year, Te Akau Stud will winter 2550 ewes, 700 ewe hogget's, 2100 cattle and 170 horses. 

The ewes were scanned last week at 158% and the dry ewes were all sold. 

This week we have 12 horses going back into work from the spelling paddocks and a further 20 next week. It's quite remarkable how well the horses have done spelling and I am predicting a great season coming up for Te Akau Racing. 

We are now in the final stages of breaking all our yearlings in. Last week we completed a video of a Savabeel filly out of High Fashion, Lot 78 from Karaka. We have just finished breaking this filly in, and she is about to take the next step in her education by leaving the stud and travelling into the stable tomorrow - there she will learn all about stable life, swimming in the pool, barrier skills .... etc.

In this video, this stunning filly was working with the legend himself, Gingernuts, and right next door, we were parading Avantage, who doesn't need much introduction. 

Now these three horses all have one thing in common - there were ALL the last to sell from their respective sales. Isn't that incredible? I am predicting that this Savabeel filly will be top class - nothing that we have broken in here this year has impressed me more. She is a ripper and yet, there are still shares available. Keep an eye on our website - this video will be up for you to watch this week.

I am excited and can't wait for the next season to come around - the yearlings that we have broken in are as good as they get!  

Over the weekend, my wife Karyn and daughter Julia-Rose took a contingent of 18 owners to our Singapore stable for a visit. They went to the big triple Group 1 raceday on Saturday where they saw our Singapore trainer Mark Walker work his magic. Mark only had horses in four races, and won two of them, maintaining his leading position on the Singapore Trainers Premiership. 

Gee, Mark really is a great trainer - he just seems to be able to get inside a horse's head work each one out. Well done Mark, you are on fire!

There has been a lot of talk about the closing of The Informant. The whole thing really saddens me, and there are faults from all sides. But I am confident that the sub-committee, headed by Don Hancock, will finish up getting a new paper underway for the new season. I have known Don Hancock very well for the last 30 years, and he has made a success of everything he has done in life. 

In the meantime, there are still two very good ways to receive news on racing:

1: ANZ Bloodstock News

2: TDN Daily Edition

If you would like to be put on the emailing list for the above, go to anzbloodstocknews.com to subscribe - or email [email protected] requesting this and these two high class racing news operations will email racing news to you each day.  

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