Te Akau Monday Update

David writes:

One thing is for sure - I have absolutely no wish nor desire to retire!  I love being busy and my two real loves in my life are buying yearlings and developing and tidying up farm land (well that says it all really doesn't it? - Ed)!

For the last two weeks we have been busy planting 65 trees - 55 of which are pin oak trees, with the balance being cherry blossom trees.  When I first came to this farm I call Te Akau Stud in 1979, I spent every available cent removing 100 year old pine trees and huge macrocarpa trees that were lying about everywhere and I found it incredibly difficult to get my head around planting more.  However two years ago I decided that I needed to invest in planting and each year I have committed to planting 50-60 trees.

It's a big job as I want each tree to grow straight and so we have built a support and a fence around each one as you can see in the main photo.  This fence protects the tree from grazing cattle.

This time of the year is quite exciting with many of the young horses that we have bought at the sale either ready to trial or race.  On Saturday we had four horses I had bought having their first start for the season at Ruakaka - Scrutinize, Love Triangle, Interstellar and Zabeel colt Amperage.

The last time I went to Ruakaka was in 1995.  It was just after I appointed Mark Walker as our Te Akau trainer in New Zealand and I went up to saddle up for him!  We had a terrible day I recall, our first three runners were all hot favourites too!

However Saturday was completely different - I left Te Akau Stud at 7.45am (Karyn was already on the road to Auckland at 5.45am) and picked up my old friend Colin Jillings in Auckland, together with our youngest daughter Julia-Rose and her partner Hamish and off we drove to Ruakaka.

Our first runner was Scrutinize, a Savabeel colt that I bought from the draft of Waikato Stud for $200,000.  He is out of their top mare, dual Group 1 winner Legs and he won his only start as a two year old and was having his first start as a three year old.  I bought this colt to try and win a Derby and so I was thrilled to see him win well over 1200m. Providing he comes through this race well, he will have his next start in the Group 3 Hawke's Bay Guineas.  We have won this race twice previously with Tell A Tale and Darci Brahma - both of whom went on to win the Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas.

In the next race at Ruakaka we had a gorgeous filly called Love Triangle (pictured below on her return to the winners' circle) who is owned by the Coolmore team.  I bought this filly for $400,000 and I thought she was very impressive, winning well.  Love Triangle is a beautifully bred daughter of Encosta de Lago from Love Diamonds and I purchased her from the draft of Cambridge Stud.

Then in the very next race we lined up a colt and a filly both on debut.  Interstellar is a filly that I bought from the Karaka Ready to Run Sale for $130,000 - she ran a top race and was beaten on the line into second by just a head.  Amperage, who I paid $150,000 for from the draft of Lyndhurst Farm, contested the same race - he is by Zabeel and raced well over a distance well short of what he needs.

So all in all a great start to the season for Steve and Jamie and our whole team who have worked so hard during the winter months.

On Saturday we saw two really good tracks - congratulations to the team at Ruakaka - despite lots of racing at that venue, the track was still in pretty good shape.  Well done too, to the team at Hawke's Bay Racing - your track looked first class for August.

It was Butch Castles' first race day as General Manager at Hawke's Bay Racing.  Butch is a really top guy and a very capable and knowledgable person and Hawke's Bay is really lucky to have him.  There is not much in racing that 'the Butcha' doesn't know and at Te Akau, we wish him and Tess and their two kiddies all the very best for their new lives in the Bay.

Mark Walker, our Te Akau Singapore trainer, was also in great form at Kranji on Sunday - or at least his horses were!  After a winning double in New Zealand, it was the same case in Singapore however Gus Clutterbuck was in control with Mark in bed sick watching the races from home.  Now Mark is one guy who never has a sick day so when you hear he is in bed crook, you know he must be bloody ill!!!

However the horses' performances will have been a tonic for him - we won the first race by 5.3 lengths with Our River Dancer.  I bought him for $100,000 from the Karaka Premier Sale and then Fine Choice won the S$65,000 initiation event really well.  Jamie and I bought this horse from last year's South island sale for just $21,000 - confirming that anyone can afford to have a share in a horse with Te Akau.

We still have shares available in another Coats Choice colt from the South Island - he really reminds me of Fine Choice - same sire, same build, almost the same price!  His full sister won twice last season as a two year old.

A 20% share is $14,750 plus GST, a 10% share is $7,375 plus GST and a 5% share just $3,687.50 plus GST.  This includes purchase, veterinary inspection, transport to the North Island, breaking in, gear, insurance plus all costs to 31 March 2016 - you will not need to make any further payment for 12 months and stakes won will be paid out in full every month.

I was really sad to learn on Sunday that Bart Cummings had passed away.  Bart had been to Te Akau Stud on two occasions and he trained two horses for Te Akau, one of which won the Craven Stakes at Royal Randwick and in doing so, broke the track record.  I enjoyed dinner at his home on numerous occasions and always got on really well with him.  He was a man of wisdom and had a wonderful dry wit and sense of humour - importantly he never lost his desire to win races.

Bart loved New Zealand and had huge success buying at both Trentham and Karaka.  He was a wonderful gentleman and we are all the better for having known him and witnessing his great deeds.  To his lovely wife Valmae and his family - we are so sorry for your loss, he will leave an enormous gap not only in your lives but in this whole industry, which he has indelibly left his mark on.  He was larger than life - a true legend for all time.

We have another very busy week coming up. Today I am heading to Matamata to spend the day at the stable and then this evening I will go to the awards' cocktail party at the Matamata Racing Club.

On Wednesday Karyn and I will be attending the memorial service in Auckland for my youngest brother Sandy who passed away two weeks ago in Australia.  Sandy was only 54 years old so it has been a very sad time for us all.  Sandy and I raced a lot of horses together including Te Akau King and the Group 1 winning mare Cosmetique who gave us such a very happy day at Ellerslie in 1986 when she beat Waverley Star in the Group 1 Easter Handicap.

Then on Thursday we have a health and safety meeting with all of our staff at Te Akau Stud and on Friday, Karyn and I will head back to Auckland for the Carbine Club luncheon at Ellerslie.  This organisation stages events such as this to raise funds for deserving charities each year and Karyn is again the MC, she does this to support them.  Then we are having a special dinner with some friends in Auckland where I will be having my first alcoholic drink for six weeks!

On Saturday Karyn will be hosting the First Call in Auckland and I will head to Ellerslie to enjoy Great Northern day, then we will meet up for Butch Castles' farewell party.  Finally on Sunday we are having lunch with all the kids in Auckland for Fathers' Day!

Have a great week!