Te Akau Monday Update
23 January, 2017
David writes:
Who would have thought that at this time of the year we would be having the amount of rain we are at Te Akau Stud? It certainly is very miserable weather for the middle of January but we had 28mls of rain yesterday and I have never seen the property looking so green for this time of the year which is great for the livestock on the property but not so much for the Kiwi beach goer or camper! It is so special to think that in just over a week's time we will have this beautiful grass available for the new team of yearlings that we will buy when they arrive home from Karaka.
Three of the five horses that I purchased from Magic Millions Gold Coast sale have arrived safely home at Te Akau Stud. They have settled in so well and we can't wait for the other two to arrive on Wednesday. They are magnificent yearlings, they really are a cut above - take a look at them on our "Yearlings and Shares" page if you haven't seen them already.
This afternoon our vet Dr Douglas Black was busy branding our foals, drenching the mares and foals, plus giving the foals their vaccinations. We have some beautiful foals this year which really does reflect how beneficial the grass on the farm has been for them.
I am sure that you know that this time of year is yearlings' purchase time for team Te Akau. Speaking of this, I have a beautiful filly with a superb pedigree that really stood out to me at the Gold Coast Sale.
This filly is one of the most athletic fillies that I have seen for some considerable time. I got in early - she was an early purchase on Day 1, being Lot 24 - an I Am Invincible/Flying Single filly. She is just stunning, and is a true 2YO type both physically and through her rich pedigree - it is full of two year old success. There are still two shares available in this filly. If you would like more details on her, give me a call! 021 925151 or email Karyn - [email protected]
It was a busy time over the past weekend for everyone in the stable. On Friday night Karyn, Jamie Richards, Brad Taylor and Julia-Rose hosted a get together with our Wellington owners before the team headed to the Wellington Cup for a great day's racing. Karyn helped the Club out acting as MC for the Fashion in the Field and Julia-Rose said the crowd was massive so I send my congratulations to Club President Wayne Guppy and the Wellington Racing Club for another superb carnival - which of course is not over yet with the Group 1 Thornton Mile set down for this weekend.
Over the weekend I was reading the book on Jim Cassidy's life. Jim of course is a Hall of Fame jockey and rode plenty of winners for me over the years. He rode over 100 Group 1 winners in his career, quite an incredible achievement and in his book he talks about the very best sprinter that he believed he rode, a horse called Zoustar. Zoustar is the son of Northern Meteor whose father is Encosta De Lago.
This unbelievable successful racehorse was purchased by Widden Stud for A$14 million and his progeny were very highly sort after at the Magic Millions Sale, everyone wanted a slice of the Zoustar action. We gave it our best crack on an outstanding colt but we were outbid by Chris Waller's team after dipping out at the A$500,000 mark.
Zoustar is all the rage currently and everybody is very keen on them and we were determined to buy one at the sales as we very much liked what we saw. We did manage to buy a beautiful Zoustar filly and she looks the real deal to me. She is out of a top mare Kakakakatae, a Zeditave mare who is out of a Danehill mare, who is out of a Bletchingly mare! That says it all! She has a beautiful pedigree and I think that this filly that I bought from Baramul Stud is a real ripper. She is a very athletic filly that I could see winning a Group 1 Diamond Stakes at two and certainly be a Group 1 NZ 1000 Guineas filly at three - a race that Te Akau has won four times.
We won another two races on Sunday at Te Rapa which was a huge thrill - including our win today with Beaumarchais at Woodville, there have been TWELVE winners for Te Akau Racing owners in the past ten days, with an even measure for the stables in New Zealand and Singapore.
One of the Te Rapa winners was Fashionably who I purchased in Sydney at the Australian Easter Yearling Sale. She is a Redoute's Choice filly from the talented Scarlett Lady and cost A$250,000. Being by a Champion Sire out of a Group 1 winning Savabeel mare I thought she was great buying. About ten days after the sale I sold her to Garry and Mark Chittick.
Another notable winner at Te Rapa was Pins' mare Astrid who I bought at Karaka for $80,000 and of course Beaumarchais recorded his second win today - he was purchased as a yearling by me for $160,000 at the 2015 Karaka Premier Sale.
Tomorrow I am heading to Auckland for the Karaka Sales for the next two weeks. If you would like to come and spend some time with me you will be very welcome as I will be inspecting yearlings and I am available to catch up at any point at Karaka. Please do feel free to contact me directly on 021 925 151.
I am just so excited about the quality of horses that I have seen this year which makes buying them even more exciting! Now that there has been an announcement that some additional money is being made available for stakes in New Zealand, it is a great time to get involved.