Te Akau New Year's Eve Update

David writes:

Karyn and I hope you had a wonderful Christmas celebration with your families and friends - now the clock is counting down to a brand new year, and in a matter of hours, 2025 will be upon us!

We had a lovely Christmas Day spent with children and grandchildren, the children really do make the day so special with their joy and delight at the magic of Santa! My job was to cook the turkey on the weber - fortunately it was a success!  We also had two special ladies who are on their own, having lost their husbands, and that too made the day very enjoyable, sharing stories and reminiscences.

The week before Christmas was extremely busy - on the Tuesday, Steve Davis took me and my yearling sales' team around the various Waikato studs inspecting the New Zealand based yearlings that were heading to the January Magic Millions' sale on the Gold Coast.

We then hosted our Te Akau North Island Owners' Christmas Party and what a fun and successful event that was, with about 150 owners in attendance. Our team really enjoying the chance to catch up with everyone, and also give our owners the opportunity to visit their horses in the stables.

Then on Friday it was back on the road inspecting Karaka Sale yearlings - we started at The Oaks Stud, then went to Milan Park, followed by Trelawney Stud, Phoenix Park and Kaha Nui.

Boxing Day at Ellerslie was a very enjoyable event with family and friends - and of course we will be back there tomorrow, New Year's Day, where we have four runners.  Interestingly, three of the four are by Embellish and what a run he is having.  I bought him as a yearling, he won the Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas and now stands at Cambridge Stud.  He is excellent value for money and his progeny are really starting to make an impact.

This past Saturday was another great day for Te Akau owners, winning three races - Colonel Warden and Crown Princess both saluted at Rotorua, while Insatiable was very brave winning at Timaru.  The winning festivities continued yesterday as Brazen Affair won very stylishly, with Midnight Blue produced a big run for second in the Taupo Cup - before the meeting was unfortunately called off.

Looking ahead, we will see Waikato Stud's Skew Wiff tackle the Group 1 Telegraph this weekend - she has been working very well and Australian jockey Luke Currie heads over the ride her at Trentham. Speaking of Australian riders, Craig Williams has been engaged to ride last start Group 1 winner Captured By Love in the Group 1 Railway on Karaka Millions' evening - we cannot wait until that exciting twilight meeting on 25 January where the stable will have some very good chances.

Our Te Akau trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson have had a terrific start to the season, with 65 wins in New Zealand (a lead of 27 on the Trainers' Premiership). The stable has won almost $3 million in stakes for our owners in New Zealand, and four Group/Listed races too.  Te Akau has also won 12 races in Australia, five of those black type, with A$1.44 million in prize money.

So in total nine stakes' races and about NZ$4.55 million won for our owners in the five months of this season - with the undoubted highlight being winning both the Group 1 NZ 1000 Guineas and Group 3 NZ Cup on the same day in November.

It's important to remember too, that strike rates matter and our strike rate tells what a terrific job our training team is doing. Mark and Sam have had one of the best strike rates for a major stable throughout the season. This time of year it really is 'all hands on deck' and Karyn and I truly salute and appreciate our hard working teams in Matamata, Riccarton and Cranbourne who are working so hard with racing commitments almost every single day.

One team member who will be missing from our race day ranks is of course Opie Bosson ONZM.  When Opie rang me to talk about his decision to retire, I was sad but understood his thinking. His retirement from race riding brings a really significant chapter in New Zealand's racing history to a close.  A genius in the saddle, the riding ranks will miss his instinct, his talent, his innate ability to judge a horse, as well as a race. His record underlines his prowess and he is indeed one of the very finest riders New Zealand has ever produced.

As I have said, we understand the reasons behind his retirement and would like to sincerely thank him for everything he has done to help us - it has been an incredible relationship and friendship over many decades, and that doesn't change.  Opie came to work for Te Akau when he was just 14 and it's been a partnership that we will never forget and will long reflect on with pride.

Of course farming is also very busy during this time and our farm team is equally as busy, we really are blessed with such great people working with us. We sent two units of prime steers to Greenlea - we have now processed about 900 steers and they have averaged more than last year which is very pleasing.

Being a farmer, you can never get enough rain at this time of the year and in that pre Christmas week, the farm had about 28mls which is enough to keep the grass growing and the paddocks we cut for haylage are looking really green.

All of our broodmares are home now, and the mares and their foals are really thriving.  The team at the farm is doing an incredible job handling them, and it's just great watching these foals grow and develop every day.  We are going to brand the foals in mid January and then we will begin weaning them in early February. 

I am now spending every spare minute of every day going through the Magic Millions' catalogue and we head to Australia in a couple of days for the sale. This is where we bought horses like Imperatriz, Move To Strike, Captured By Love, Sword of State and many other good horses.  We have refined our short list so watch this space - it won't be long until we have secured our first yearlings, with shares available, for 2025.

As we sign off on this final day of 2024, I also wish to express my huge appreciation to everyone who sent such kind wishes when it was announced that I would be inducted to the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame in May 2025.  If you had suggested such a thing to that young man fifty years ago, who had such a burning interest in, and passion for, the thoroughbred industry, he probably would have laughed, never believing such a thing would be possible.  It is humbling, and reflects the contribution of so many people, over so many years - a recognition like this is never achieved by one man alone, not ever.

Speaking of recognition, it was great to see former rider and now apprentice mentor Noel Harris and also President of the Taupo Racing Club, Terry Campbell, recognised in the New Years' King's Honours - well done to you both, so thoroughly deserved for what you have contributed to the industry.

Have a Happy New Year's Eve, and Karyn and I hope that 2025 will be the very best year for you - filled with health, laughter, times spent with family and friends - all things you wish for - and of course, plenty of success on the track!

Take care during this time, especially on the roads ...