Te Akau Monday Update

David writes:

It was another full on weekend for everyone at Te Akau and it started off in a very familiar fashion to us - with a winner in Singapore on Friday night for our Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker.

I know I have said it before - but with only about three months remaining in the Singapore season - Mark Walker and his team have really done us proud these past nine and a half months.

Mark started the season with a bang but more importantly, he has kept up the winning impetus and hardly a weekend goes by without a winner (or two or three) from the stable!  Mark only started training in Singapore when we established our stable there late in 2010 and two years ago he won the Trainers' Premiership which was a huge source of pride to everyone.

Mark of course won five Trainers' Premierships when he was our New Zealand trainer as well as four Champion Trainer of the Year Awards - he looks very hard to catch in this year's Singapore contest too.  To underline this point, Mark also prepared another two winners on Sunday night taking the weekend tally to three and his season's total to 74 - and increasing his lead on the Trainers' Premiership table to a 26-win margin - that's just a massive effort by everyone.

A winner that caught my eye in Singapore over the weekend was a Burgundy gelding that we had educated in New Zealand.  I said from day one that Burgundy was a huge chance at stud and so far, he is looking the 'goods'.  Not only did he have another winner in Singapore over the weekend, where he has also had Bringer of War (a Group 2 performing filly we train), yet another of his fillies won the Listed fillies' race at Wanganui last week - giving him his first stakes' winning three year old.

Of course Burgundy had already hit his straps last season as a first season sire when Hard Merchandize became his first juvenile stakes' winner.

If you have a mare to mate this season, Burgundy is outstanding value and a very exciting young stallion.  I am sending 13 mares to him this breeding season, such is my confidence in his future which looks very bright indeed.

This wet weather is driving me mad - and I know I am not alone in that sentiment.  I just feel so sorry for the horses as they look downright miserable in their paddocks, even with their double rugs on!  It's not much fun for the hard working crew either to be out in these horrible conditions, day after day.

As I write this, it is pouring down yet again! Postponement and abandonment after abandonment of trials and race meetings is making getting horses ready for racing this Spring just one big headache.  I have never known a winter so wet on the farm and everyone is completely over it.  Unfortunately today we learned that the Waipa trial meeting of tomorrow joins the list of casualties in being called off, as were the Matamata races and many, many more.  Even a terrific winter track like Te Rapa is currently a Heavy11 (with 40 mls over the weekend) with all the rainfall the Waikato is copping.

I have said it before - with a climate like New Zealand's we need an all-weather track - but that constant argument continues to fall on deaf leadership ears.

We have sent a number of horses to the South Island early, in search of better tracks as we aim towards NZ Cup Week.  The team is being looked after by our senior team member Dan Miller and apprentice Tegan Newman, under the guidance of Stephen and Jamie - in fact Jamie is down in Christchurch all this week overseeing the horses' work and schedules.

The South Island has been a happy hunting ground for Te Akau owners with nine Group 1 NZ 2000 and 1000 Guineas' titles in the past 13 years and we do have a nice team in the South, with more to join them, and I know they will appreciate the better conditions.

Speaking of the South - it was great to see the Ashburton club announce that its Listed John Grigg Stakes has been elevated to Group s3 status for the first time this season.  The Club sent us a lovely note thanking Te Akau for the quality horses that we have entered in this race over the years - the stable has enjoyed a very good record in this race as a traditional lead up to the two Guineas' events and if our presence has been a positive for the race and its upgrade - well that really makes us very happy.  It's a proven formula and has been a very successful path for our horses.

Aside from all the weather frustrations - we had a huge event to celebrate over the weekend!  Our daughter Julia-Rose and her fiancee Hamish are expecting a baby in March next year and they had their "gender reveal" at the farm on Sunday.

Karyn drove to Auckland to host "Weigh In" and then picked up the cake.  The cake is plain on the outside and the only person who knows the gender of the baby is the baker who has been given a sealed envelope containing the gender and neither Julia nor Hamish had opened it.  The baker then bakes the inside of the cake either blue or pink and no-one knows what sex the baby is until the cake it actually cut!

So everyone was actually on tenterhooks - we had a few bubbles with the close friends that joined us, including Hamish's mother Catherine who drove down to stay from Auckland.  At about 4pm the cake was cut and we were all very surprised and delighted to learn that they are expecting a wee girl!  A few 'side bets' had been placed and everyone seemed convinced the baby would be a boy!

I also had a surprise up my sleeve for Julia and Hamish - a new puppy.  "Beaudy" is a 12 week old golden retriever puppy (just like our dog Kane) and he is a wee beauty.  It's only been 24 hours and he's settling in well - he will spend time between Auckland and the farm and is a great addition to the new family.  Karyn's other three dogs are starting to get their noses back in to joint!

I hope you all have a good week - and here's to some improving weather, despite the fact the forecast still looks pretty ominous!