Te Akau Season of Success - Group 3 Glory Sealed

We continue our reflection on a wonderful season for Te Akau owners with a total of 23 Group and Listed race victories - today we revisit a stellar performance by a mare who is like a fine wine, maturing beautifully with age ...

She’s been building beautifully this season, and on 4 January at Trentham, My Lips Are Sealed (4 m Ace High – Tellmeaboutit, by Tavistock) announced herself in commanding fashion with a dominant win in the $120,000 Group 3 Rydges Wellington Airport Phar Lap Trophy (1600m).

Already a stakes' performer as a three-year-old when finishing a close second in the Group 3 Eulogy Stakes (1600m) on the same course, the strong-bodied mare has continued to mature with time. After two wins earlier this season and a solid fifth in the Listed Matamata Cup on 20 December, she returned to Trentham in peak form – and delivered accordingly.

With top-class rider Samantha Spratt aboard – the equal-leading stakes'-winning jockey (15) in New Zealand this season - My Lips Are Sealed jumped smartly and settled into a lovely rhythm mid-pack. Travelling well throughout, she was brought wide turning for home and once Spratt asked for an effort, the response was immediate. She lengthened stride with authority to race away and score by two lengths.

On a Soft7 track, she stopped the clock at 1:37.8 for the 1600 metres and returned $5.60 & $1.80 on the NZ TAB tote – a satisfying reward for her loyal ownership group.

By Ace High, a dual Group One-winning son of High Chaparral, My Lips Are Sealed has inherited some of the class and toughness that defined her grand-dam What Can I Say (Khozaam). A Group 2 winner of the Warwick Farm Stakes among her eight career victories, What Can I Say was a remarkable broodmare - producing 10 individual winners with 29 wins between them, including six at stakes' level and total earnings over $1.5 million.

My Lips Are Sealed herself holds another feather in her cap: she was the very first yearling by Ace High to be sold at Karaka. Snapped up for $160,000 by David Ellis CNZM from the Rich Hill Stud draft at the 2022 Book 1 Sale, she now races for the Te Akau Not A Word Racing Partnership, managed by Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM.

“She’s got a fantastic group of owners behind her,” said Ellis. “People like All Blacks Sean Fitzpatrick and Anton Lienert-Brown are in the partnership, and it’s been great to watch her progress under the patient guidance of Mark (Walker) and Sam (Bergerson). They’ve given her the time she needed, and she’s really maturing into a quality race mare.”

Now a winner of four races and closing in on $200,000 in career prizemoney, My Lips Are Sealed is back in work and preparing for a jump out at Matamata on 31 July.

Her victory adds to Te Akau’s proud record in the Group 3 Phar Lap Trophy - a race formerly known as the Anniversary Handicap – joining:

    Belle En Rouge (Burgundy) – 2023

    Abidewithme (Redoute’s Choice) – 2014

    Glad (Pins) – 2013

With her talent and tenacity, there’s every indication that My Lips Are Sealed is in for an exciting season ahead.