Te Akau Monday Update

David writes:

What a frustrating season it's been for all horse trainers and everyone trying to prepare horses at this time of the year.  Unseasonable rain every day and soft and heavy tracks still in mid-December is virtually never heard of - it's just so very frustrating for all our team and our owners.  No one wins unfortunately.

Racing in New Zealand is certainly keeping us busy with Singapore racing now concluded for the year/season. Our New Zealand trainer Mark Walker and the team are flying with 77 wins for the season in only 4.5 months.

We have recorded 10 at Group and Listed level, and are the only stable to have exceeded $2 million (currently $2.38 million). We have a large team entered 'at home' at Matamata on Friday so we are really praying for a good track and some decent draws - both of which we haven't been experiencing.

All nine horses that we bought for our Singapore and Matamata stables in November from the Ready to Run sales in New Zealand and Australia have been sold.  We would like to thank all our owners very much for the support they have given us.  We have brilliant re-investment from existing owners, and have welcomed many new owners too!

This support and loyalty is truly appreciated and it is a big thrill for the teams to have another intake of beautiful young horses to train going forward.  I know all the teams are very excited in both New Zealand and Singapore.

Last Thursday we were finally able to host our North Island Owners' Event at Matamata which was a lot of fun.  It was the first function we have been able to enjoy in three years due to Covid restrictions. So we all made up for lost time and loved catching up with so many familiar, and plenty of new, faces.

Starting about a fortnight ago, my major focus has been the January yearling sales at both the Magic Millions' Gold Coast sale and Karaka.  There has been a ton of reproach done on these catalogues by me and our team, and last week we commenced our yearling inspections.

We inspected yearlings at private parades at Hallmark Stud, Jamieson Park, Westbury Stud and Haunui Farm.  I am inspecting all the yearlings with Marcus Corban.  Marcus of course was the General Manager of Cambridge Stud for over 30 years and he managed stallions like Sir Tristram and Zabeel through their stud careers.  He has a great eye for a good horse, with a wealth of knowledge and is a fun and very organised guy to work with.

I have never seen as much grass as we have at Te Akau Stud at present.  The stock all look amazing.  We have more fat lambs going to the works this week and another two units of steers.  The 2 ½ year old steers are putting on 2kgs a day - it's just a shame that each week the price is coming back per kilo.

Karyn and I hope that the countdown to Christmas is going well for you and is as relaxing as possible - if that is actually at all possible!  It is a hugely busy time of the year for us but we enjoy it, and live for it, doing what we love most.

Best of luck to our owners with runners coming up this week, and we hope Santa has arrived early with a wee surprise in your mailbox! We very much look forward to seeing you all at the Boxing Day races at Counties, then New Year's Day at Te Rapa and other venues in between!

Speaking of Te Rapa, I think we should congratulate the Chairman and Board of the Waikato Racing Club and CEO Butch Castles for taking on all these extra race meetings.  The industry is very fortunate that the Club is able to take on these additional commitments - the club's track manager Bart Cowan is world class.  It will be a very exciting day for certain though when the new Ellerslie track in back in action.