Te Akau Monday Update
14 December, 2015
David writes:
On Sunday night I went to bed a very happy man! I am just unbelievably proud of what we have achieved here at Te Akau in 35 years.
Winning the Trainers' Premierships in two countries is something that I never dreamed would be possible when my first horse arrived at Te Akau Stud in 1979. My family was not involved in either farming or racing so when I first started out it was natural that I didn't have much of a clue - some people probably say I still don't (!) but it was certainly quite exhilarating for me to see my great pal Mark Walker sign, seal and deliver his first Singapore Premiership and add another two race wins last night.
Mark had another three seconds as well, a couple of which were quite unlucky but that is the way racing goes - well done to everyone who works in our team in Singapore - the results in the first five years in Singapore have been quite spectacular and we will be working hard to ensure that this success continues. It's a great team that we have in Singapore especially Gus and Karen Clutterbuck (main picture with Mark).
I I was also thrilled to see three races at Kranji last night (the final night of the season) were won by horses that I have bought out of the Karaka Sale.
I bought Lady Iffraaj for John Galvin's Fortuna Syndicators - I paid only $27,500 for her so no-one can say that we only buy the expensive horses. This beautifully bred filly by Iffraaj is out of the top 2YO filly Naturo and she was a stunning type at the sales and I was quite staggered I was able to buy her for that price! Fortuna Syndicators have now won 12 races this year in Singapore courtesy of seven different horses so well done to the Fortuna team.
We also won with a horse called Clutha Lad who I bought from the Karaka Select Sale for $36,000. By the late Thorn Park, this horse has now won $247,916 in Singapore, underlining just how terrific the stakes are. Then the third of my purchases that won last night was called Classified, by Savabeel. I bought him for $125,000 from Trelawney Stud for a Singapore owner and he is trained by Bruce Marsh who has just been given the horse to prepare (this is the third stable this horse has had).
| S/No | Trainer Name | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total Runners | Strike Rate (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MW WALKER | 86 | 86 | 121 | 92 | 767 | 11.21 | |
| 2 | HW TAN | 72 | 69 | 50 | 59 | 707 | 10.18 | |
| 3 | M FREEDMAN | 69 | 65 | 62 | 44 | 458 | 15.07 | |
| 4 | L LAXON | 66 | 63 | 63 | 69 | 621 | 10.63 | |
| 5 | S BURRIDGE | 62 | 55 | 52 | 59 | 571 | 10.86 | |
| 6 | P SHAW | 55 | 68 | 49 | 56 | 485 | 11.34 | |
| 7 | C BROWN | 52 | 53 | 55 | 38 | 416 | 12.50 | |
| 8 | L KHOO | 52 | 51 | 46 | 38 | 529 | 9.83 | |
| 9 | S GRAY | 50 | 44 | 45 | 33 | 405 | 12.35 | |
| 10 | S BAERTSCHIGER | 44 | 46 | 33 | 41 | 403 | 10.92 | |
| 11 | B DEAN | 34 | 25 | 38 | 37 | 399 | 8.52 | |
| 12 | M CLEMENTS | 33 | 26 | 31 | 30 | 317 | 10.41 | |
| 13 | D KOH | 32 | 33 | 36 | 33 | 541 | 5.91 | |
| 14 | J O'HARA | 27 | 22 | 26 | 37 | 379 | 7.12 | |
| 15 | L DRAGON | 24 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 317 | 7.57 | |
| 16 | RB MARSH | 23 | 29 | 25 | 30 | 354 | 6.50 |
It is just not the Singapore part of our operation that is going successfully - Te Akau Racing at Matamata has also had a sensational start to the season and Stephen Autridge has done an amazing job with Jamie Richards - they too are in front on the Premiership. Jamie is very fortunate in having a world class horseman in Steve to show him how to prepare horses for Group 1 races.
A lot of people don't understand how emotional it can be winning races - at Matamata all our team are up at 3.15am every morning and it is absolutely exhausting work if you do everything really well. So when you have the great results, it is only natural for people to become emotional. I must admit I had tears in my eyes when Xtravagant won the Group 1 2000 Guineas the way he did and I am really looking forward to seeing him race at Ellerslie on Boxing Day - he will be a drawcard for the Auckland Racing Club for sure.
| Wins | 2nds | 3rds | Stakes | Starts | G & L | SR | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Autridge & Jamie Richards | 42 | 26 | 22 | $990,505 | 196 | 5 | 4.67 |
| 2 | Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman | 36 | 20 | 19 | $510,542 | 169 | 1 | 4.69 |
| 3 | Graeme & Debbie Rogerson | 33 | 30 | 38 | $663,022 | 297 | 3 | 9 |
| 4 | Lisa Latta | 29 | 27 | 27 | $583,810 | 256 | 0 | 8.83 |
| 5 | Tony Pike | 26 | 19 | 11 | $400,372 | 102 | 1 | 3.92 |
| 6 | Kevin Myers | 21 | 29 | 29 | $588,015 | 218 | 2 | 10.38 |
| 7 | Stephen Marsh | 19 | 7 | 10 | $371,695 | 91 | 3 | 4.79 |
| 8 | John & Karen Parsons | 18 | 16 | 16 | $327,505 | 167 | 1 | 9.28 |
| 9 | Graham Richardson | 17 | 22 | 7 | $283,455 | 118 | 1 | 6.94 |
| 10 | Brian & Shane Anderton | 17 | 10 | 5 | $211,010 | 86 | 1 | 5.06 |
| 11 | John Wheeler | 16 | 12 | 14 | $217,827 | 108 | 0 | 6.75 |
| 12 | Allan Sharrock | 14 | 10 | 7 | $346,975 | 62 | 2 | 4.43 |
| 13 | Stephen McKee & Eddie Chippendale | 14 | 8 | 8 | $237,055 | 103 | 2 | 7.36 |
| 14 | Mike Breslin | 11 | 10 | 6 | $251,455 | 83 | 0 | 7.55 |
| 15 | Stephen Ralph | 11 | 6 | 4 | $161,650 | 63 | 1 | 5.73 |
Te Akau Stud's equine crew is also flat stick at the moment - looking after our spelling horses but also working with horses heading to the yearling sale as well as our brand new foals. Handling these young horses is a very important part of their early education and Jason and Katy and the team do a great job.
We are also having a great year on the farm and cattle prices have held up pretty well really and the pleasing thing is that the weighs that we are getting from our cattle - our steers are averaging over 350 kgs on the hook and our bulls about 348 kgs. All in all a very good result. Luke Copeland has worked for me now for over 15 years and he also does a top job here at the stud.
I was ecstatic on Sunday morning when I saw that 36mls of rain had fallen over the previous 48 hours - that is the best news for farmers and ensures good, green grass until at least the end of January. There has been a lot of cloud about which means the clover and ryegrass don't get burned off by the sun so we have really good grass still available.
I thought the races at Te Rapa on Saturday, Waikato Cup Day, were terrific. The weather fined up, the track was in top order - they still broke 1.10 for first race as I predicted. Karyn is the Chairman of the Waikato Racing Club, a post that I held for five years as well about 15 years ago. It never ceases to amaze me at the amount of work that racing administrators at Club level put into racing. They don't get paid a cent, they do it because they love racing and want to be involved. They want to contribute to help this industry and that is something that the government has no idea about.
It does sadden me that this government seems to have so little interest in our industry. You only need to look at what is happening in Australia e.g. in NSW the government has reduced the duty that Clubs have to pay and I think it is high time that the New Zealand Racing Board approaches the government about reducing the duty that we have to pay as an industry. Afterall if they get this industry going again - which I am sure they can - they would actually enhance the revenue collection for the government - not reduce it!
Today we are having a day on the farm and tomorrow I start looking at yearlings again - first at Curraghmore and then four other Hamilton Studs and on Wednesday we are at Trelawney and Monovale and then Mark and I will attend the twilight races at Matamata where we are having our stable Christmas party.
I am really looking forward to welcoming Mark Walker back to the farm tomorrow where he will have a change of scenery but he won't be resting on his laurels for long as Wednesday and Thursday we will be on the yearling inspection trail. On Thursday we are at Pencarrow Stud from where we have bought some very good horses e.g. Darci Brahma (currently NZ's leading stallion). After looking at the yearlings we will have a celebration for Mark's success.
However before that, Karyn and I are very excited as about now, our daughter Lydia is landing at Auckland airport from London. She will be at the farm tonight but heads to Wellington on Wednesday as she is a bridesmaid at the weekend. It will be her first Christmas with us in four years.
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