Te Akau Monday Update

David writes:

Well it looks like it is going to be a wet old week weather-wise here at Te Akau.  We don't mind a bit of rain as it keeps the grass growing and it looks like it is going to be warm rain too!

Another great weekend for Te Akau Singapore with Mark Walker notching up three further winners over the weekend - it's hard to believe what a great job he is doing in Singapore.

Mark started the weekend with Star Rainbow winning on Friday evening at Kranji.  Then Zac Command won the first race for Mr Wong on Sunday and Prince Mag won Race 7 for  the Lucky Stable.   The apprentice on Zac Command was Jimmy Kek - he is a young man we are very proud of.  He worked for us in New Zealand for two years and was one of the most decent, lovely young guys you could ever meet.  Always in a good mood, always happy and he worked very hard.

Jimmy worked for us at the same time as apprentice Kif Toh who is riding in brilliant form in Singapore now - their 4kgs allowance is hard to head off.  However Kif had a bad fall on Friday at Kranji and is undergoing an operation that could see him off the track for months. We all send him our best wishes for a rapid recuperation.

We also had some nice other runners in Singapore including Prince Chapel, a debutante gelding who is by King's Chapel out of Effortlessly and Om went a super race too, the son of Darci Brahma looks not far away from winning again.

Today is MARK WALKER'S BIRTHDAY - so I am sure you all join with Karyn and me in wishing Mark a very happy celebration with Julia and the children. Normally we celebrate this milestone event on the Gold Coast but this year the sales were a week earlier than normal.

Jamie Richards is at the farm this morning having already ridden track work and we are going to take the covers off and inspect every horse that is spelling here at the farm.

We also have 150 steers that are coming into the yards to be weighed, drenched and to receive a copper injection before being set stocked for the winter.

We have the year we purchased Gold Coast arriving home this week and  we will start breaking them in later in the week.   We are in the final stages now and have broken in 60 yearlings to date - a huge effort by James and his team and I have to say I have never seen a better bunch of young horses in my life!  We have exciting times ahead for sure!