Te Akau Monday Update
18 January, 2021
David writes:
What a remarkable start we have had to 2021. In the weekend it was Trentham's turn to host a Group 1 day - Trentham has always been one of my favourite tracks, not least because I met Karyn there.
My love affair with Trentham started many moons ago however ...
When I was a teenager at Flock House agricultural college just out of Bulls I never missed a meeting at Trentham and then a few years later when I went to Massey University and I still attended every Trentham meeting. It really is a great track and I thought it played pretty fairly on Saturday.
It was thrilling to see the horse that we bred here at Te Akau Stud win the $50,000 Listed Wellesley Stakes for the two years olds and his full sister Melodious is going to race this week as well. Massive congratulations also, to Danielle Johnson for scoring her winning ride No.100 for the season too,
What a remarkable mare Avantage is. She demonstrates exactly the sort of horse that I am trying to buy. A horse that can win as a two year old (and a Group 1), get better at three, even better at four and have her best season as a five year old.
That is the sort of horse that I am trying to buy. In Avantage's case she had her first start as a two year old in September and raced again in October. She then raced twice in January including winning the Karaka 2YO Million. The only time she got beaten in that campaign was in the Group 1 Sistema Stakes when she drew very wide and was beaten by our other two year old Sword of Osman. Then she went on to Awapuni where she won the Group 1 Manawatu Sires Produce very convincingly.
Gee any horse that can win Group 1 at 1200m, 1400, 1600 and 2000m is nothing short of a freak. It is an incredible effort.
When Avantage is out spelling she is one of the most placid, beautiful mares you would ever see but when she goes to the races she gets so excited. She just can't wait to 'bring it on' and she becomes very hard to handle. We are very lucky that we have got such a great horseman in Trevor Stewart who does an amazing job with her on race day. All the work is worthwhile when you see how hard she tries.
Danielle Johnson the country's leading jockey, rode her a peach - and you can see why she is leading the Jockeys' Premiership!
NZ Jockeys' Premiership as at 18.01.21
| Wins | 2nds | 3rds | Stakes | Starts | G & L | SR | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D Johnson | 103 | 65 | 44 | $2,291,640 | 501 | 10 | 4.86 |
| 2 | C Grylls | 46 | 60 | 39 | $1,176,015 | 433 | 6 | 9.41 |
| 3 | L Allpress | 43 | 37 | 19 | $1,021,875 | 234 | 6 | 5.44 |
| 4 | S Collett | 42 | 50 | 39 | $890,905 | 526 | 4 | 12.52 |
| 5 | R Schofer (a) | 37 | 20 | 17 | $521,000 | 204 | 0 | 5.51 |
| 6 | O Bosson | 34 | 19 | 16 | $1,003,535 | 130 | 8 | 3.82 |
| 7 | A Goindasamy (a) | 33 | 22 | 37 | $541,555 | 371 | 1 | 11.24 |
| 8 | K Asano (a) | 32 | 33 | 29 | $603,562 | 290 | 0 | 9.06 |
| 9 | S Weatherley | 31 | 31 | 34 | $677,595 | 323 | 1 | 10.42 |
| 10 | M McNab | 30 | 19 | 28 | $658,140 | 211 | 3 | 7.03 |
| 11 | J Riddell | 28 | 20 | 27 | $574,765 | 247 | 1 | 8.82 |
| 12 | A Comignaghi | 27 | 34 | 29 | $499,490 | 279 | 1 | 10.33 |
| 13 | J Parkes | 27 | 27 | 17 | $494,030 | 226 | 2 | 8.37 |
| 14 | A Calder | 26 | 22 | 26 | $517,410 | 278 | 1 | 10.69 |
| 15 | M Cameron | 25 | 23 | 26 | $554,445 | 270 | 1 | 10.8 |
I bought Avantage at Karaka for $210,000 - she was bred by Willie and Karen Calder and you wouldn't believe it but she was the last filly to sell all the shares in that year. That's remarkable in hindsight isn't it?
I thought that Brando was a bit unlucky in the other Group 1, the Levin Classic. However that is racing for you and you don't have the rub of the green every start. I thought the interference on the corner cost him the race. But all hats off to the Johno Benner & Hollie Wynyard trained Bonham. What I was most pleased about with Brando is that I can see that he will make a stayer now and he will probably head to Melbourne for the C.S. Hayes and the Australian Guineas.
Trainers' Premiership as at 18.1.21
| Wins | 2nds | 3rds | Stakes | Starts | G & L | SR | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jamie Richards | 94 | 74 | 47 | $2,690,420 | 466 | 18 | 4.96 |
| 2 | Stephen Marsh | 37 | 39 | 46 | $974,915 | 486 | 3 | 13.14 |
| 3 | Allan Sharrock | 34 | 18 | 13 | $596,065 | 130 | 4 | 3.82 |
| 4 | Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman | 30 | 32 | 21 | $959,220 | 240 | 3 | 8 |
| 5 | Michael & Matthew Pitman | 30 | 31 | 27 | $643,510 | 266 | 0 | 8.87 |
| 6 | Tony Pike | 23 | 22 | 29 | $467,545 | 162 | 2 | 7.04 |
| 7 | Kevin Myers | 22 | 30 | 24 | $460,600 | 214 | 0 | 9.73 |
| 8 | Lisa Latta | 21 | 22 | 26 | $412,750 | 248 | 0 | 11.81 |
| 9 | Kelvin Tyler & Aimee Tyler | 19 | 24 | 14 | $421,045 | 158 | 0 | 8.32 |
| 10 | Team Rogerson | 18 | 25 | 20 | $490,970 | 331 | 3 | 18.39 |
| 11 | Peter & Dawn Williams | 18 | 10 | 13 | $277,735 | 89 | 1 | 4.94 |
| 12 | Andrew Carston | 17 | 10 | 20 | $208,537 | 211 | 0 | 12.41 |
| 13 | Johno Benner & Hollie Wynyard | 17 | 7 | 3 | $330,160 | 50 | 1 | 2.94 |
| 14 | Terri Rae | 16 | 14 | 5 | $314,485 | 78 | 2 | 4.88 |
| 15 | Brian & Shane Anderton | 15 | 15 | 19 | $241,520 | 153 | 1 | 10.2 |
The weekend winning continued too from our Singapore stable with Sacred Croix regaining winning form to claim victory for Mark Walker. Mark currently lies second on the Trainers' Premiership with the new season only a few weeks underway.
It has been a big week looking at yearlings and also I have been busy buying yearlings from the Gold Coast.
Shares are selling quickly so do check out our "Yearlings and Shares" page ....
Tomorrow I am off to Auckland for ten days. I don't think I have ever done so much preparation work for the sales as I have for this year's Karaka yearling sale. The quality of the yearlings is just outstanding but due to so many overseas people being unable to travel to New Zealand I am predicting it will be buyers' market.
We have all heard about the stake increases that are taking place at Ellerslie in the next two years to this is an incredible opportunity to get involved. Please feel free to call me on 021 925 151 to discuss an investment at Karaka.
Seeing this is the last day on the farm I am busy giving last minute instructions on what needs to be done to have the farm ready for the Karaka yearlings when they arrive.
It is just starting to get dry at Te Akau Stud but 7mls of rain helped last night and a but more is meant to be coming tomorrow. Today we are dipping and drenching. We are still selling cattle but even though the price has come back our margins are still very good.
We are on the countdown now to the Karaka Million twilight meeting - we will run five 2YOs in the Karaka 2YO Milion hunting our fifth consecutive win in this race - as well as three starters in the Karaka 3YO Classic, also worth $1 million. Te Akau is represented in every event on the six race programme on Saturday so we can't wait!
Have a great weekend and best of luck to all our owners with runners in the next week.
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