Te Akau Monday Update

David writes:

It was another successful weekend for Te Akau with a winner in both Singapore and in New Zealand.  Brahms and Liszt won very well at Kranji and Princess Davone won stylishly at Riccarton at just her second start.

September is easily the most frustrating time of the year for racing in New Zealand.  After a long, cold winter of heavy tracks, everyone is desperate for a good track for their good quality horses but it just keeps raining.  We are another three weeks away from good tracks I am sorry to say.

Isn't it a shame that our racing administrators haven't had the vision to have an all-weather track in place?  I have mentioned this 100 times or more so better not rave on but just think how much money the galloping code lost last week with two meetings abandoned and already this week, the Cambridge trials have had to be cancelled.

This morning we have another three horses heading to the South island - Madame Jamai, Windborne and Risque.  Windborne and Risque are two Darci Brahma fillies of real class who will win quickly.

We had a fun weekend in Auckland - on Friday we started with the Carbine Club luncheon at Ellerslie which Karyn was again the MC for.  The guest speakers were Tom Hazlett and John Wheeler.  I really also enjoyed having a great chat with Sir Peter Leitch aka "The Mad Butcher" - what a wonderful New Zealander he is.

On Friday night we had a wonderful evening at my favourite restaurant.    Poor Karyn had her TV programme the next day so she was very clever and left at 10.00pm.  However I was a bit quick out of the starting stalls (having been alcohol free for six weeks) and was still at the restaurant having a red wine in the wee hours with my great friend, Antoine's owner and chef Tony Astle.  I must admit it took me a few hours to come right on Saturday.

Then on Saturday night, Karyn and I and Julia-Rose and Hamish went to Andrew "Butch" castles farewell at Ellerslie racecourse.  It was a great evening had by all, lots of fun and while sad to see Butch go from Auckland, he will certainly still be a major contributor to the industry through his role as General Manager of Hawkes Bay Racing Inc.

Then to cap off a thoroughly enjoyable weekend, Karyn and I took my three daughters and their partners to Soul Bar for a lovely Fathers' Day lunch!  Last night we settled in to watch the Singapore races and while there wasn't a winner, there were plenty of good efforts from horses to be placed.  Mark remains on top of the Trainers' Premiership too with just under four months of the season to run.

Today I am off to Matamata to inspect all of the horses and have some staff interviews.  I will be home on the farm on Tuesday and then of course we have races at Te Rapa on Wednesday.  I am having some further cataract surgery on my right eye on Thursday which the specialist says will help my vision and then we are having a big weekend on the farm with lots of friends and family coming to stay.

On Sunday we are having a party to celebrate Matt Cameron's back to back jockey premiership wins - as well as Champion Jockey awards.  So it is a busy but fun week ahead!