Te Akau Monday Update

David writes:

Saturday was one of those truly special days when you actually have to pinch yourself to make sure it is really happening. 

It all started at midday, when twenty of us met at Headquarters on the Viaduct Basin for a brilliantly fun boys' lunch to celebrate the up-coming wedding of our daughter, Lydia and her husband-to-be, Jamie Roseby. 

We were lucky that not far from our table was a huge TV screen, where we could watch the races and our runners at Matamata, Otaki and Caulfield, in Melbourne.

The first race we had runners in was the Group 3 Waikato Stud Slipper at Matamata for 2YO geldings and colts which saw us quinella the race with two horses I purchased at Karaka - Need I Say More and our Karaka Million winner Cool Aza Beel - our Saturday was off to a roaring start!

We have won this race eight times. If my memory serves me right, our first win in this race was Cosma D'or, who was ridden by the great Lance O'Sullivan. 

To Lance and Scottie - we wish you the best of luck in this week's Group 1 NZ Derby. You can be sure that Dragon Leap will be trained to the minute.

The next race we had runners in was the Group One Haunui WFA Classic at Otaki, and again, our two starters ran the quinella - Avantage and Prise De Fer! What a lucky day it was to purchase both Avantage and Prise de Fer at the same sale, and to see them run first and second in a Group 1. 

Prise de Fer probably didn't handle the track quite as well as Avantage, but the bottom line was it was an incredible achievement by our trainer Jamie Richards and all our hard-working team, especially after winning the race with Melody Belle last year. We have also previously won this race with Darci Brahma and Kings Chapel. 

After putting a lot of thought into it, Jamie and I have decided that both Avantage and Prise de Fer will clash again at Ellerslie in the Bonecrusher Stakes Group 1 in two weeks' time - how exciting will that be!?    

In my mind, the run of the day would have to have been from our Queen, Melody Belle, who came third at Caulfield in the Group 1 Futurity Stakes. This race was a great lead up for her, and she is going to be very competitive in three weeks' time in the All Stars' Mile.

Another really good effort at Caulfield was seeing Trent Busuttin and his partner, Natalie Young, win the Blue Diamond. They are having huge success in Australia, and bought Tagaloa from Magic Millions for $300,000. It was also great to see former Te Akau stable jockey Michael Walker win the Blue Diamond for them. Combining Melody Belle and their success has added a real Kiwi flavour to this prestigious race day. Karyn and I love seeing Kiwis do well on the world stage.

With Lydia getting married on Thursday, I went right around the whole farm today. We only received 8mls of rain over the weekend and while this may have helped our crop, it certainly did nothing else for the rest of the farm - and it was 28 degrees today!!

I would say it's the driest Te Akau Stud has ever been in February, but I am so lucky we have such a fantastic water system in place - we have five bores spread out across the farm. We also have four troughs in all our large paddocks and two in our smaller ones, meaning our stock will always have great access to good quality water. No wonder they are in great shape.

While we are on the topic of stock, I am very happy to share with you the good news - stock prices didn't drop this week for the first time in about three months.

We are getting $5.35 per kilo this week for our beef compared to over $6.50 per kilo in November, but it is more than what it was this time last year.

We are lucky that we sell our beef to Alan Radford and Greenlea  - their prices are always so much better than other competitors, especially in this bad drought. 

This afternoon, Jamie flew out to Sydney to watch Te Akau Shark and Probabeel work in Randwick tomorrow morning. He then flies back into Auckland for the trials tomorrow. The only other person I have ever met that can work like this is Mark Walker, our Singapore Trainer. It is no wonder that they are both leading the Trainers' Premierships in their respective countries.

The yearling I am promoting this week is LOT 449, the Savabeel filly out of Baby Shacks. 

This is my Karaka Million filly.

In the last ten years, she is one of the most beautiful fillies I have ever bought, and cost $55,000 less than Probabeel - I am predicting that she will be just as good. 

My advice to you is to don't delay in contacting me, as she we will be gone very soon - 021 925 151.

On Wednesday, we have some very good chances at Hawkes Bay, and on Thursday we have runners at Counties. 

Best of luck to all our owners and ...

GO THE TANGERINE!!

Back