Te Akau Monday Update

David writes:

We had our first frost here this morning at Te Akau Stud, but I can't complain as we are currently having a beautiful spell of Autumn weather.

The conditions are marvellous for all the horses who are spelling here at the farm - from the weanlings to the older horses, I don't believe I can remember them doing so well.  They love this weather and simply thrive.

We had another really busy weekend, starting with the Waikato Hospice Fundraising "Bucket List" Dinner at the Claudeland's Event Centre on Friday evening in Hamilton.

It was an amazing event, with 1100 people in attendance. Over $450,000 was raised for this essential health service, which is a tremendous effort. It was quite incredible that the catering as well as all beverages, were also supplied free of charge by Montana Catering as well as a number of other supporting businesses - all kudos to them for their generosity.

I really enjoy supporting these fundraising events, especially when it contributes to such a wonderful organisation that does so much for the people in our communities.  They had a number of donated items to auction and I purchased a signed Chiefs' rugby ball for our youngest grandson Corey Ellis, who is rugby mad, as well as a lunch for four with All Blacks Coach Ian Foster and players Damian McKenzie and Anton Lienert-Brown.

One of the highlights of the evening was the entertainment, which was provided by the Topp Twins. After the show, the Topp Twins mingled the guests and had dressed up as two of their most iconic characters Ken and Ken. They came over and had a good chat with me and Karyn. What wonderful New Zealanders they are, and their show was quite incredible. Karyn and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Saturday saw another fantastic day of racing at Te Rapa with the track hosting the Cambridge Jockey Club's meeting.

Te Akau Racing had three winners on the day so a top result for Jamie Richards and the team, while later that evening our Singapore trainer Mark Walker, had another win and three seconds.

Our winners at Te Rapa were beautifully ridden. Opie Bosson delivered a magnificent ride aboard Supreme Khan, while our apprentice jockey "smiling" Joe Kamaruddin took out two races, one aboard Summer Monsoon and the other on Leaderboard.

Joe is riding in terrific form and is going to be great value for our owners going into the winter, as he has a 3kg claim.

In the Te Akau Racing box on Saturday at Te Rapa, we were very fortunate to host newly inducted Hall of Fame jockey James McDonald and his partner Katelyn Mallyon.

Katelyn was also a fantastic jockey before retiring and is now a world class television presenter in Australia.

It was also great to see our trainer, Jamie Richards, hit the 150 winners for the season at Te Rapa, and as of today, we have a total of 152 domestic winners. This is an all-time record and a fantastic achievement for everyone involved.

Last night, Karyn and I finished the weekend by going to the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame induction dinner. Held at SkyCity in Hamilton, nine new inductees were celebrated on the evening.

Hosted by Des Coppins and Steve Davis, it really was a lot of fun. It was great to see people who have invested so much back into the industry being recognised and rewarded. I would like to congratulate everyone who was inducted into the Hall of Fame last night, well done to you all.

We are set to have another busy week at Te Akau Stud as we are halfway through breaking our yearlings in. Stephanie Hyde-Richards is doing an incredible job, and each day Troy Harris is coming out to help ride and educate these youngsters before they make their way into the stable.

Speaking of yearlings, the last share in our Not A Single Doubt filly from Australia sold over the weekend. This now means that every yearling is 100 percent sold and let me tell you, we have some cracking young horses this year and I cannot wait to see how they progress once they make their way into the stable to begin their careers with Te Akau Racing.

Have a great week everyone and I hope you are all enjoying this warm Autumn weather just as much as this Te Akau Farmer is!