Te Akau Monday Update

David writes:

What a fantastic weekend for Te Akau Racing' s owners!  

Over the weekend it was a thrill to win races at five different venues starting with Knowledge Is Power at Phar Lap Raceday at Timaru on Friday. 

Then on Saturday, I enjoyed being at Pukekohe for a top day's racing.  It was great to see our talented two year old Snitzel colt Return To Conquer debut in impressive fashion, winning the Listed Counties' Challenge Stakes at Pukekohe. 

I bought this colt at the January Magic Millions' sale as one of two colts for our 2024 stallion partnership so it's an exciting result for his owners. He was very polished and professional for a young horse having his first start so his future looks bright. 

For a young horse, winning the first time they go to the races is definitely not as easy as you think, the race day experience is all brand new. Different sounds, activities, distractions. All credit to Mark and Sam and our team for the wonderful job they've done training and educating this colt as he walked around the parade ring like an old hand, totally unfazed.

The Saturday success continued at New Plymouth with Fastnet Rock mare Bella Voce recording back to back wins while our Australian stable raced 'at home' for Cranbourne Cup Day.  Savabeel 5YO Savoir Faire (main photo), a horse I bought at the Ready to Run Sale at Karaka, continued on his winning way, while on Sunday we were thrilled to see Scottie’s Legacy win at Kilmore. 

It is a huge thrill for Karyn and me to see the team going so well in both counties. All kudos to our wonderful stable and farm teams. Our strike rate underlines the great job our team is doing - 4.55 in New Zealand and 4.1 in Australia.  Basically meaning that one in every four of our horses that races, comes home a winner.  We couldn't do any of this without the stellar support we receive from our owners.

Last week at the Ready To Run Sale we purchased 10 horses and they are selling quickly, some are already sold. 

If you are interested in a colt that we will be training to aim towards the Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas, and a horse that we think could well train on to win a Derby, then take a close look at Lot 13 our Savabeel gelding.  He's out of a Melbourne stakes' winning Testa Rossa mare, a cross we have had great success with. He looks a very classy horse to me and I could see him being ready to race in three months' time. He was one of the best Savabeel's I have ever seen and we simply had to have him for our owners to be involved with and race.  

The horses that we bought are now at Te Akau Stud, enjoying a nice spell, before heading in to our stable for the first time. They have all settled in well, coming through the sale in top order.

We have had a wonderful record of our Ready To Run Horses - 19 winners of over 30 races in the past 12 months, and of course its the sale where I bought Group 1 winners Gingernuts, Te Akau Shark and Hall of Fame, and numerous other Group winners and performers such as Brando.

We purchased other exciting 2YO's including a Redwood filly for just $75,000. She was terrific value - our of a mare called Always In Trouble, Karyn reckons her new owners will have a lot of fun coming up with names for her! 

So if you are interested in being involved, feel free to email Karyn ([email protected]) or call me on 021 025151. You will be made to feel very welcome. 

Today I am flying to Sydney to begin my inspections of NSW based yearlings, especially those heading to the January Magic Millions' sale, and I will spend the next ten days visiting multiple studs with Marcus Corban and Reece Trumper. I particularly like seeing these yearlings on their farms, before they travel to Queensland in December.

On Tuesday we begin in earnest, starting with 45 yearlings at Widden Stud, then 40 at Baramul Stud and we are staying Tuesday night at Yarraman Park Stud.  Yarraman of course stands the Australian Champion Sire I Am Invincible, sire (amongst others) of Imperatriz and the sale topping colt I purchased last week at the Ready to Run Sale.

We then will see 35 yearlings at Yarraman, 14 at Bhima Thoroughbreds, and 28 at Sledmere Stud. Following that we will inspect 30 at Vinery Stud and then 63 yearlings at Newgate on Thursday morning. We are also viewing 14 at Ridgmont Farm, 12 at Kia Ora Stud, and 35 at Segenhoe Stud. 

We will then stay at Coolmore Stud on Thursday night and on Friday morning commence viewing some 45 yearlings before driving back to Sydney.  On Saturday in Sydney, we will review seven yearlings at The Chase, the on to China Horse Club yearlings, then another dozen at Millburn Creek. Our schedule continues with 15 yearlings at Silverdale Farm, then we stay at Newhaven Park and inspect around 30 yearlings on Monday morning. 

Then it's travel time to Jen Black's wedding to Ben Pryde. Jen is the daughter of our senior veterinarian Dr Douglas Black and is marrying in New South Wales - then fly back to New Zealand on Thursday week.

Meanwhile, everything on the farm couldn't be going better. The grass is just amazing for this time of year. We had 71 mls of rain 10 days ago and a further 19 mls last Thursday. I don't think I've ever seen the cattle doing so well - and with the dollar reducing in value, the cattle prices are staying firm which is a big help because the store price for yearling steers is as strong as I've ever seen it.

Best of luck to all our owners with runners this week, we’re really looking forward to kicking off the summer racing season, it’s an exciting time of year and while it's super busy, we wouldn’t want it any other way.   We simply love this time of the year!