Te Akau Monday Update

David writes:

Great to be home after a busy week in Sydney. It was wonderful to be part of the final sale at William Inglis at Randwick and after 150 years of selling at this venue, the property has been sold and the venue has moved to Warwick Farm.

I bought my first horse in Sydney at this venue in 1987, a filly by Shining Finish called Te Akau Star. She was a stakes' placed winner of five races and was a well above average filly that went on to be a very good broodmare.

Last week I bought what I considered to be one of the very best fillies I have ever purchased.  Lot 190 - a Fastnet Rock filly out of Keep on Singing.

This filly goes back in the third dam to the Nureyev mare Pattern Step. It is a family full of black type. This filly's mother is out of Keep on Singing who is by Hennessy and this cross has worked particularly well with Fastnet Rock.

I consider this filly to be a Matamata Breeders' Stakes filly that would train on to be an ideal filly for the Sires' Produce. This is a race that we won with Melody Belle this year.

What is becoming increasingly obvious is that these sorts of fillies have really good residual value and can be worth a fortune if they can win black type races and then go to stud. I bought this filly for AUD$350,000 which I thought was fantastic value in a very strong market.

The bloodstock industry is on fire in Australia and there were an unbelievably large number of buyers at the sale. When you see the stake money that is available and the support that the government gives racing in New South Wales it is little wonder that the industry is thriving.

The New Zealand government has no hesitation in giving millions of dollars in rugby, cricket, golf, America's Cup etc. I am not criticising that spend but wouldn't it be nice if they recognised the value to the New Zealand economy of the racing industry and gave something back to racing for their two or three big carnivals?  This would be better than the present situation when all they do is 'take, take, take'!

The start of 2017 has been an unbelievable successful period for Te Akau Racing.

For example in the last three weeks we have won races in four countries.  Yes horses that I have purchased have won in New Zealand, Singapore, Australia and Ireland.

However the greatest thrill was being able to buy all of these nice yearlings that we have this year and when I go around the farm each morning and in the evenings, I can see just what an exciting period Te Akau Racing is in for.

It is not just in the sale ring that we have been successful. It has been on the race track where we have been on fire and we have won the following since January:

Hall of Fame - Group 1 Levin Classic

Gold Fever - Group 2 Matamata Breeders' Stakes

Melody Belle - R.Listed Karaka Million

Melody Belle - Group 1 Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes

Gingernuts - Group 2 Avondale Guineas

Gingernuts - Group 1 New Zealand Derby

Gingernuts - Group 1 Rosehill Guineas

Splurge - Group 3 Darley Plate

These unbelievable results only come about through terrific team work and dedication from all of our team members.

I felt unbelievable disappointed for John Galvin and Fortuna because the horse I bought for them Chance to Dance, in my opinion, would clearly have run second in the Sydney Cup on Saturday. He actually did finish second and watching the replay I don't think there is much doubt that anything that pulled up during the race would have finished near him - but of course that is always hard to know.  The stake for second in the A$2million race was A$380,000 but as always I am a man where the glass is half full and not half empty and I think we have got to say to ourselves 'the race will be re-run and we are going to win it' to make up for the disappointment.

My big project in the last couple of months at Te Akau Stud has been building a new all-weather airstrip and yesterday for the for the first time Super Air used it and we are busy spreading fertiliser over all the hills at the moment. It is working really well.

It is really exciting to see how well Gingernuts has done since his return from Australia and I can really see this horse going to another level in the Spring and I think he will be very competitive in races like the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups potentially. It is just unbelievably exciting to see him in the paddock - he is eating three massive feeds a day and I can really see him going to strength to strength.

Now our attention turns to Brisbane where we are taking a very exciting team of between six and eight horses including Heroic Valour, Hall of Fame, Melody Belle, Splurge, Zambezi Warrior and there will be others added to this list in the next ten days.