Te Akau Monday Update

David writes:

It certainly is an extremely exciting time of year to be a farmer.

Over the weekend we had another 22mls of rain and the farm is really looking amazing!  The paddocks are just so green and lush for this time of the year and the stock are thriving.

We have about 50 acres that have been ploughed up and sown with a rye and clover mix. A lot of drains within this 50 acres have also been filled in and within a month's time it will look amazing.

I was as proud as punch on Friday to see Savy York Blonk win another Group 3 race for the season.  This talented Savabeel Mare was bred by Bill and Jim Gartshore and entrusted to us to train.  She's a mare that just keeps getting better with age.  Jamie elected to scratch her from the Gold Cup at Awapuni the Saturday prior when the track was downgraded.  That was a smart move - saving her for the Group 3 Manawatu Breeders on Friday at that same venue - as his wise choice paid big dividends.  Savy Yong Blonk is a really valuable future broodmare and this black type really enhances her value at stud.

On Saturday we had a social get together at our Raglan home for 11 couples who are all friends of our youngest daughter, Julia-Rose and her husband, Hamish.

Several of them have shares in On The Bubbles and 12 weeks ago, they all got together and created their own punting competition. This saw each of them put in $100, with the aim of every week putting the total of their punting purse on a horse of their choice for a place bet.

Well, you wouldn't believe it, but each week they were successful with their bets and last Saturday, the group finished up with about $23,000. With only one more Saturday of racing to go before their in-house competition finished, they put the total amount to place on Avantage.

Unfortunately, the Te Aroha races were abandoned due to unsafe track conditions, and the team had to re-evaluate their options.  The 'rules' were that the bet would have to be re-placed on the day - no delaying until Avantage runs on Saturday at the re-scheduled Group 1 NZ Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes that will be hosted by Te Rapa.

Each week the bet is placed by one of the team in order of age, so it was the youngest guy who had the weight on his shoulders as he had to re-jig his bet. He decided to place the bet on Anamoe, who was racing in the Inglis Sires Produce in Sydney. With James McDonald aboard, the horse just bolted in and paid $1.22 for a place. From the original $1100, this group of friends ended up with a $28,000 investment. To say that they were excited when Anamoe hit the front was a massive understatement - this is what racing is all about, watching their absolute celebrations was wonderful!

With no runners on the weekend in New Zealand due to Te Aroha being called off, and then our runners being scratched from Counties with its heavy track, that left Jamie Richards sitting on 142 wins for our record-breaking season.  He is only one win from equalling the all-time record for wins, and two from establishing the new one.  Perhaps that might come at Matamata/Te Rapa this week!

However while we might not have been racing in New Zealand, the Te Akau team was still winning!  Well done to Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker who recorded a winning double at Kranji on Saturday night.  Mark is having a great start to the season which commenced in January and currently lies second on the Trainers' Premiership.

We have a very big week coming up, with Jamie Richards flying out to Sydney where we have three good chances at Randwick next Saturday. Probabeel, Amarelinha and Entriviere will all be competing in their respected Group races and we are so excited by this team of talented horses.

Tomorrow night, the two fillies I bought in Sydney will arrive home in the wee small hours and we can't wait to have them settled here on the farm.

In my opinion, they were right up with the very best quality fillies in the sale and we will start breaking them in straight away.

The Not A Single Doubt filly still has several shares available in her, but I don't believe they will be available for much longer!

Not A Single Doubt is currently the leading sire this season in Australia in terms of stake earnings. His progeny have won $13.3 million already this season, and that is just in Australia!

This filly has an exceptional pedigree, being out of an I Am Invincible mare. It's a family full of 2YO form and I predict this filly will be one of our first to race this Spring.  She's a strapping, strong and well built individual who looks the perfect type to race early.

If you are interested in a share, do not hesitate to give us call - this is filly that you do not want to miss out on.

Have a great week and we hope to see you all at Te Rapa on Saturday for what is going to be another fantastic day of racing.  We will also have our voices in full song to cheer home the Te Akau Sydney trio!

GO THE TANGERINE!