Te Akau Pursuing Magic Dream

While much of Te Akau Racing's star power has been sourced through the New Zealand Bloodstock sales at Karaka over the years, Ellis has also been a long-term advocate of sourcing from Australia, with this year's G1 Sistema S. winner Sword Of State purchased from the Newgate draft at the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $600,000.

Border restrictions prevented Ellis attending the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale but he was very busy buying in partnership with bloodstock agent Andrew Williams, spending $2.74 million across six yearlings, five fillies and a colt.

Two of those horses have already produced wins as pre-Christmas 2-year-olds, including Saturday's impressive debut winner I Choose You (I Am Invicible). However it was Bright Blue Sky, the Fastnet Rock filly sourced from the draft of Coolmore Stud, who won the recent Listed Fastrack Insurance 2YO S. at Te Rapa for Te Akau trainer Jamie Richards and looks set to cross the Tasman.

So impressive was that win that Ellis is plotting a trip to tackle the $2 million R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic in January, a path he first plotted 25 years ago with a similarly progressive 2-year-old.

"In 1996, I had a horse called Te Akau Joke that we took over to the Magic Millions, but he was unplaced," Ellis told TDN AusNZ.

Te Akau and Ellis have enjoyed a phenomenal run of success in the quarter of a century since, dominating racing in the past decade in New Zealand and experiencing widespread success in Australia and Singapore.

Winning the feature Gold Coast 2-year-old race has been on Ellis' mind for some time and it was just a matter of finding the right horse to fit the bill.

"We are going to bring Bright Blue Sky over to Australia," he said. "We will probably trial her in Sydney and take her up for the (G3 BJ) McLachlan S. and then the Magic Millions.

"We asked a couple of professional form analysts in Sydney and they rated her effort the other day extremely highly and that is what has encouraged us.

"She is a really good-doing filly, she cleaned up the bin that night of the race and she is just absolutely thriving. We are really happy."

The plans for Bright Blue Sky, who hails from a family which has produced Group 1-winning sprinter Lankan Rupee (Redoute's Choice), G1 Australian Derby winner Tavago (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}), and further back, Group 1-winning stallions such as Grosvenor (NZ) and Lonhro, is to then target Australian Group 1 goals in the autumn.

"We are buying fillies like that to have a crack at races like the Golden Slipper, so we will probably go down to Sydney after Queensland," Ellis said.

Plans to send Sword Of State to the Golden Slipper were scuppered in 2021, by a mix of timing and unsuitable tracks, but Ellis hopes that off the back of a run in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic, the autumn can set-up much better for he and Richards' current 2-year-old star.

Another path to Choose

I Choose You debuted with a comfortable success in a 2-year-old race at Te Aroha last Saturday, leading home a trifecta for Te Akau-purchased horses.

A sister to recent Sydney winner Bella Rouge, she was a $500,000 purchase from the draft of Yarraman Park Stud and is out of stakes-placed Starcraft (NZ) mare Choose, from a family which includes G1 ARC Railway S. winner Bawalaksana (NZ) (Straight Strike {USA}) and G1 Blue Diamond S. placegetter Shaaheq (Redoute's Choice).

She is not headed to Australia just yet, but, like Sword Of State last season, will be aimed up at the better New Zealand 2-year-old races in 2022.

Ellis said Te Akau also has a host of quality 2-year-olds ready to target the R. Listed Karaka Million in January, a race he has won the past five years. All of the winners of that race, including champions Melody Belle (NZ) (Commands), Avantage (Fastnet Rock) and Probabeel (NZ) (Savabeel), have gone on to Group 1 success.

"There are a lot of nice 2-year-olds that aren't far away from getting to the races," he said. "We had a horse by All Too Hard (Insatiable) that we really like that trialled well at Matamata on Monday."

The class of 2022

Meanwhile, Ellis, who has built a well-earned reputation for picking out future champions, is turning his attention to working through the yearling offerings ahead of the 2022 sales season.

"I've already seen quite a few yearlings for Karaka, which has been put back to March, and the standard of yearlings is the best I have ever seen. It's a vintage crop of yearlings," he said.

"We will certainly look to buy some more horses on the Gold Coast as well. I've had most of my luck at Karaka, but I have certainly sourced some nice horses on the Gold Coast.

"I am looking forward to hopefully getting back there this year, providing they open the borders."

With the emergence of the new Omicron COVID strain, the free flow of travel between New Zealand and Australia seems unlikely to be pushed forward, but even if he can't get there, Ellis will be happy to link up again with Williams.

"We will only use the best and they don't come any better than Andy Williams," he said.

"I've known Andy for a long time and he's very reliable and he's straight up and down. He gives me very good feedback and he's a straight-shooter. He's the sort of person Te Akau likes dealing with.

"He's also an exceptional judge. I spend weeks looking at these horses on the internet and forming an opinion, and I really enjoy getting Andy's feedback."

A night to remember

Sword Of State's success as New Zealand's champion 2-year-old at Monday's virtual awards ceremony was just one aspect of Te Akau's dominance.

Probabeel was crowned Horse of the Year and was also supreme in the Sprinter-Miler category, while Melody Belle, whose four Group 1 victories last season took her top-flight tally to 14, claimed Champion Middle Distance honours.

Amarelinha (NZ) (Savabeel) won the award as Champion Filly, while Avantage finished runner-up to Probabeel for Horse of the Year.

“Jamie and his team do a wonderful job. It is just a massive team effort and I am just the proud and lucky person to head the team.

“It was very rewarding last season to have bought horses that won 15 Group 1 races. That's what gives Karyn (wife, Fenton-Ellis) and I the charge and what we love doing.”