Te Akau Monday Update

David writes:

While Karyn and I were flat out talking all weekend to our potential and current owners, Jamie Richards and our team were equally busy winning races.

First up was the Group 3 Taranaki Cup on Saturday with Prise de Fer, a 4YO Savabeel gelding who has now won five races straight. It was another top class ride from our stable jockey Opie Bosson.

On Sunday, the team took everything to another level, winning half the card at the Matamata races . How exciting is that!? Four of the eight races won by horses bolting home in the tangerine.

When Fabulous Flight saluted the judge, he became Jamie's 80th winner for the season - quite an incredible achievement by our team in the first six months of the racing season.

Jamie heads the Trainers' Premiership for wins (80), a lead of 13; for Group and Listed wins (10 NZ & 1 Australia), and also for prize money won $2.9 million (plus we won $2 million in the Australian Spring). A unreal strike rate of 4.9 underlines just how well our stable is firing and how well our horses are racing.

Winner No.1 came the NZB Ready to Run sale, winner No.2 came from NZB Book One Yearling Sale, winner No.3 came from the Sydney Easter Sale and winner No.4 came from NZB Ready to Run sale.

Fabulous Flight was purchased for $205,000, Need I Say More was purchased for $130,000, Phantom Witness was purchased for $60,000 and Combat Queen was purchased for $130,000.

The best thing is that shares were available to our owners in every single one of these horses.

Congratulations to the Matamata Track Manager Graeme Styles - the track yesterday was a credit to you.

It was great to see our stable jockey Opie Bosson in such good form. Gee, when he is 'in the zone', he is just so hard to beat. He won three of the races for us while Michael McNab rode home our other winner.

Michael is also riding in great form. Michael and Troy Harris will receive some fantastic opportunities in the next two months, as Opie will be riding a lot in Australia. In the next four months, we will be having horses race in
Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.

It is interesting how we came to have our 2YO winner Need I Say More. He was passed in at the Karaka Sales this time last year. I would come home each night and wake up thinking about him. I finally decided to ring the vendor, Eion Kemp, and ended up buying him for $130,000. This 2yo is by No Nay Never, who I saw race in France about six years ago. He cleared out to win that day by a big margin and I went to see him the following morning in his stable. I thought ‘what a magnificent colt,' so I am delighted that the first one by him looks like being such an exciting racehorse.

Karyn, my wife bought a share in Need I Say More as she loved him at first sight - and our Administration Manager Robyn Bregmen and her husband Derek, who is also my neighbour, have a small share in him too. Several of our friends and first-time owners are also involved with Need I say More, so all in all, a very happy weekend!

The weekend of winning also continued for our Singapore stable as our Champion Singapore Trainer of 2015, 2017 and 2019 Mark Walker saw his team deliver wins at both the Friday and Saturday meetings with Black Quail and Street Cry Success.

Mark is on top of the Singapore Trainers' Premiership with 13 wins in just the first month of the new season, a lead of four.

It is well known that I don't have a drink until all the
yearlings sold, so all I could celebrate the weekend's success with was a lime
and soda - how tragic is that!?

We finished up buying 38 yearlings at the Gold Coast and
Karaka Sales. Karyn and I have never sold so many shares so instantaneously -
it is just unbelievable how quickly they are selling.

Going around the farm each day and watching these yearlings is just an incredible sight - it is so exciting to see the quality of bloodstock that we have to train for the next season.

The farm is very dry and literally the entire North Island is in drought conditions. However, our stock are all in great condition. The prices for lamb and beef has dropped about 15% since the beginning of January, but we are still getting satisfactory margins.

The interesting thing is that even though we are in a drought, the horses are doing exceptionally well - they love the hot, fine weather on their backs.

February is going to be a massive month for us. In between selling shares and beginning the yearling's early education, our daughter Lydia is coming from London in two weeks to marry her fiancé Jamie Roseby. Lots of their UK friends and relations are also heading over for the big event too so we will be busy showing them the wonders of New Zealand! Lydia is the last of my four daughters to get married, so we are pretty excited for this wedding!

We still have some magnificent shares in top yearlings available - if you would like to be involved, please do not hesitate to give me a call or email [email protected]

Hope you all have a great week - we are counting down to this Saturday as we have both Te Akau Shark and Avantage racing at Te Rapa in the Group 1 BCD Waikato Sprint. It should make for an exciting race! We also will see the inaugural running of our new race sponsorship - the Group 2 David and Karyn Ellis Fillies' Classic.

GO THE TANGERINE

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