Te Akau Monday Update

David writes:

What an incredible weekend it was for the Tangerine Team - one to remember, and a wonderful start to the new season!

On Saturday, we were absolutely thrilled to win the first Group 1 race of the new season with Quintessa at Ellerslie. It was a fantastic training performance from Sam Bergerson and Mark Walker to have her ready to win first-up at the elite level, and it made the weekend very special indeed. 

It was a breathtaking performance as the five year old mare drew very wide, and settled at the rear of the field.  On turning for home, she was still last but Rory Hutchings, over from Australia to ride her, absolutely did not panic, let her find her rhythm and wow - she came scorching down the outside to breeze past the quality field of gallopers to win by 1.3 lengths.  She really was a sight to behold.

I was watching on the television but I could not be more delighted for her owners, just wonderful people - including my good friend Cameron George, along with Stacey Jones. 

Quintessa has now won two Group 1 races, the Levin Classic as a 3YO, as well as the Group 3 Cockram Stakes in Melbourne at this same time last year - followed by a third placing in the Group 3 Mannerism Stakes last season.  

Add to this her two sterling efforts as a three year old in Melbourne where she was fourth in the Group 1 Australian Guineas (Flemington) as well as the Group 1 Australian Oaks (Sydney), and was only beaten a nose into second in the Group 2 Alister Clarke Stakes (Moonee Valley).  

I purchased Quintessa for $170,000 from Wentwood Grange in Cambridge – the Hawkins family are outstanding breeders and operators, and it gave me great pride to see another of their yearlings become a Group 1 winner. 

Quintessa was bred by Linda Huddy, one of the most respected breeders in the Southern Hemisphere, and together with her husband Graham, she has been a huge supporter of our stable. They currently have three horses in work with us in Melbourne, and it was particularly satisfying to deliver this victory for them as breeders and part owners in Quintessa.

There were some other classy performances by the team with He Who Dares beaten only .3L in the Listed Sir Colin Meads Trophy, while In Haste and Queen's Evidence were second and third respectively, narrowly going down in the Group 3 Gold Trail Stakes.

Sunday was of course Fathers' Day and it was very special to spend time with family - then on Sunday night, the celebrations continued with the New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Awards. Although for the first time in at least thirty years I was not able to be there in person, Karyn and Julia-Rose kept me closely updated throughout the evening, and I could not have been prouder of our owners, our team and our horses.

One of our major highlights of the evening was seeing our co-trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson again named Champion Trainer of the Year, as well as be recognised as the Trainers' Premiership winners. 

What an achievement this is – and especially for Sam, who has only held his trainer’s licence for two years and has now won the Champion Trainer title in both seasons! It’s an incredible feat, and I would be very surprised if it has ever been done before in our racing history. The award was made even more special by the fact that Sam had his parents Kathy and Roydon there with him to share in the celebration - a moment they, and we, will treasure for a long time to come.

It was also fantastic that so many of La Dorada’s ownership group were in attendance to celebrate her being crowned Champion Two Year Old of the Year. To win the Karaka Millions 2YO, the Group 2 Matamata Breeders' Stakes, and then the Group 1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes has never been achieved before, and for her to be recognised with champion honours was richly deserved. From all reports, it was a brilliant evening that recognised not just our horses, but the incredible commitment and spirit of so many across our industry.

On a personal note, as many of you know I am continuing to recover after two weeks in Auckland Hospital undergoing fairly major surgery. The good news is that my prognosis is very encouraging and I expect to be back to work in just a few weeks’ time. For now, I have been staying in Auckland and plan to return to the farm next week. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have such exceptional people both at Matamata, Christchurch, Melbourne and on the farm, who all have been doing a truly outstanding job during my absence. I am very proud of them all.

Life on the farm continues to be busy, and over the past week we have been docking. 

The first mob we completed was the five year old ewes that had been scanned with singles or twins and the empty ones have been sent for processing. The first paddock we did was 'Bush' paddock which had 60 single ewes and we docked 70 lambs, the next paddock we did was 'Track' paddock which were scanned with twins - 154 ewes, 262 lambs and 10 ewes that had lost their lamb. The final paddock we did was 'Golf' paddock which had 98 ewes, which were scanned with twins, there were 179 lambs that were docked and 11 ewes that had lost their lamb. So incredible statistics really.

Today we killed another unit of steers and we have another unit going on Wednesday. The steers that were processed this morning weighed 365kgs, so I am very happy with how the farm is going. That is all the steers we will send for about five or six weeks now. Alan Radford is busy buying yearlings to replace these steers that we are selling. This morning he rang me from Matamata to report on what was available there and we will try to buy more at Frankton tomorrow.

It has, however, overall been a chilly winter, with a record number of frosts. We are all looking forward to the longer days and slightly warmer weather to encourage the grass to grow.

Looking ahead, the racing action continues this week with a busy set of trials at Ellerslie tomorrow and Avondale on Thursday. Best of luck to all our owners with runners this coming weekend - we are looking forward to another strong week.

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank everyone who has sent me kind messages, cards, and emails during my recovery. Your support has meant so much to me and to Karyn, and we truly appreciate every single one.

Have a great week ahead - and GO THE TANGERINE!