Te Akau Monday Update

David writes:

A very happy New Year to you!  The 2025 year finished on a terrific note for our team, with the winning momentum continuing right through the festive period, into the very end of December, and the start of 2026.  

In the week leading up to Christmas there was the stellar performance by Lara Antipova absolutely bolting home in the $175,000 Group 2 Windsor Park Stud Wakefield Challenge Stakes at Trentham. It was an impressive effort by the two year old, repeating what we had seen from her on debut.

I purchased her at the Magic Million's Sale last January and thus, as she is not Karaka Millions' eligible, she will now target the Group 2 Matamata Breeders' Stakes (won last year by La Dorada - more on her soon), and then the two juvenile Group 1 Sires' races.  The Fortuna team looks to have a very exciting filly on its hands.

Over the Christmas period, the winners kept then coming, with Stage ’N’ Screen scoring in Melbourne on Boxing Day, followed by a very satisfying victory when What You Wish For won the $100,000 Harcourts Taupo Cup on 30 December.

I then loved seeing the team round out the year with El Viento going back to back - the team took just one runner to the New Plymouth races, and he won the very last race we contested in 2025 on the very last day of the year!

That was a wonderful way to close out the year and one we all enjoyed as we said farewell to 2025.

That momentum has carried straight through into the New Year and I am so proud of our team, and thrilled for our owners, as we started 2026 the way we ended 2025.

On New Year's Day, Ellerslie played host to the first Group race staged anywhere in the world - Te Akau has a great record in this race, winning it five times, last year with Bellatrix Star who went on to win three stakes' races in Melbourne and be runner up at Group 1 level against the order horses in the Coolmore Stakes.

This year we had two stable runners in the $225,000 Group 2 Eclipse Stakes and we were over the moon to see our Home Affairs' colt Kinnaird score a wonderful victory in the hands of Opie Bosson and secure his place at the top of the Karaka Millions 2YO Order of Entry. It was a terrific way to set the tone for the start of the new year. 

It was also a victory of significance by Kinnaird - in winning, he gave his sire Home Affairs his first ever stakes' win, that's certainly something to be proud of.

Actually though, our first runner for the New Year at Ellerslie was Drops of God, who we train for Greg Tomlinson and Raptor Thoroughbred Limited, and it was great to get 2026 off to a winning start for those connections. To then follow that up by winning the very next race on the card - the Eclipse Stakes, made it an even more memorable day.  But there was more to come!

Towering Vision ran a terrific race in the Eagle Technology Premier, storing home also in the hands of Opie Bosson to win in style. He looks like a horse who could well be very hard to beat in a race such as the New Zealand Derby and is certainly one to watch as we move through the autumn.

Our fillies Origin of Love and Born To Be Royal also acquitted themselves with distinction finishing second and third in the Group 2 Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes, earning more valuable black type for their resumes.  Another eye catcher came in the last when Espionage finishing third from a wide draw, as the Zoustar entire eyes up Group1 future challenges in the famous Coolmore Stud colours.

While Te Akau celebrated three Ellerslie winners on New year' Day, Opie in fact rode four winners on the programme from just six rides, which was outstanding. Unfortunately, he picked up a suspension and will be sidelined for two weeks, but it is great to see him riding as well as he is at present.

The day was perfectly concluded with Sheanadh saluting the judge in Victoria - a four win New Year's Day Thursday, an awesome way to kick start our year!

The momentum hasn't stopped since then - it was simply brilliant to see La Dorada step out on Saturday and deliver a tremendous performance to win the $400,000 Group 2 Levin Track Supporters Levin Classic. We have now won this race six times, including four of the last five editions, previously with the likes of Quintessa, Imperatriz and Romancing The Moon, so it holds special significance for our team.

It was an incredibly courageous effort. La Dorada was shuffled back in the running, but Craig Grylls did not panic and trusted her impressive turn of foot to guide her through when it mattered. This is the same track where she claimed her Group 1 Manawatu Sires’ Crown last season on her way to being crowned Champion Two-Year-Old of the Year, so it was wonderful to see her back there and back to her brilliant best. We were absolutely thrilled for her owners - and our team with two Group 2 titles in 48 hours.

From a three year old to a six year old - also on Saturday how brave was Zantabulous, a striking grey mare, who has had her share of issues during her career. Both our team and her owners have shown tremendous patience with her, and that patience was rewarded in atrocious track conditions - more reminiscent of winter - when she was victorious in the Lockwood Thames Coromandel East Waikato Gold Cup. It was a terrific ride from our apprentice Hayley Hassman, who showed real initiative, with the apprentice claim also proving a valuable advantage.

So far this season in New Zealand we have won 62 races for our owners, with stake earnings of over $3.1 million, including eight Group or Listed wins, with a strike rate of 5.7 runners per winner. That is an absolute credit to Sam Bergerson, Mark Walker, Reece Trumper, and all of the team at Matamata. I can also see that we have some really nice horses coming through in Australia, with Ben Gleeson and Mark Walker having several runners ready to race in coming weeks, including some talented two year olds, which is very exciting.

Over the past week we have had 56 millimetres of rain on the farm. That sort of weather probably drives racing administrators mad, but it is ideal for farmers like myself with plenty of cattle and lambs on. The quality of the grass at the moment is outstanding, and the clover we have around the farm really has to be seen to be believed.

We are sending a unit of 40 steers to Greenlea tomorrow and again on Thursday. These steers have done particularly well over the past two weeks, and I am estimating they will kill out at around 325 kilos.

Karyn and I are heading to the Gold Coast Magic Millions Sale at the end of this week with our buying team of Mark Walker, Marcus Corban, Reece Trumper, Ben Gleeson and our veterinary team. We leave on Friday morning and have already turned the catalogue inside out, assessing and analysing videos and pedigrees, and of course conducting on-farm inspections last month too. Karyn will be busy off-sale ground too, as the Guest Speaker at the very popular annual Women In Racing luncheon event.

Our record at this sale is simply unbelievable - its the sale grounds where we have bought horses like Imperatriz, Sword of State, Captured By Love, Princess Coup, Move To Strike, Return To Conquer and many more. If you would like to be involved in owning a share in a Magic Millions yearling, please feel free to give me a call anytime on 021 925 151, or email Karyn at [email protected].  You will be made to feel very welcome.

Best of luck to all of our owners with runners this week. We are certainly moving into the most exciting part of the year, and already I am very much looking forward to Karaka Millions night on the 24 January, it will be here before we know it!

GO THE TANGERINE!

Main picture - La Dorada's connections at Trentham on Saturday - www.raceimages.co.nz