Te Akau Season - Stakes' Win 27 (NZ) of 30

July sees the final month of our phenomenal 2023/24 racing season.  

As we like to do at this time of the year, we now reflect every day on our Group/Listed performers of the 'season that was' - and there were plenty!  In fact 30 across New Zealand and Australia, with nine at Group 1 level.

One of the most impressive performances of the Te Akau 2YO brigade came via Move To Strike's Group 1 demolition of his talented juvenile opposition including hot favourite Velocious in the second and final Group 1 assignment for the season for the babies. 

Purchased for our 2023 colt partnership, this now highly valuable son of I Am Invincible showed he is definitely a stallion in waiting!  Understandably interest in Move To Strike from Australasian studs has been intense - remembering too, he is the very first ever Group 1 winning juvenile colt his champion sire has produced ...

Vindicating the impressiveness of his debut victory, Move To Strike (2 c I Am Invincible – No Evidence Needed, by Shamardal) brilliantly won the $450,000 Courtesy Ford Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr. 1, 1400m) on 6 April at Trentham.

Move To Strike had raced right up to his looks when scoring on debut by nearly five lengths in December at Te Rapa, while providing the 2000th domestic win for stable jockey Opie Bosson.

Move To Strike became the eighth Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr. 1, 1400m) winner for Te Akau, and sixth in the past seven years after homebred filly and Champion Two-Year-Old Maven Belle (Burgundy) won in 2022.

In addition to Move To Strike and Maven Belle, the additional Sires’ winners for Te Akau have been: On the Bubbles (Brazen Beau), also the fifth of seven consecutive Karaka Million 2YO (Restricted Listed, 1200m) winners for the stable, Champion Two-Year-Olds Yourdeel (Dundeel) and Avantage (Fastnet Rock), winner of nine Group One races, and Melody Belle (Commands), dual Horse of the Year and Group One (14) record-holder, along with Kindacross (Cape Cross) and Maroofity (Maroof), both trained by Mark Walker before he set up stables in 2011 for Te Akau in Singapore. 

Ridden by former Te Akau apprentice Wiremu Pinn, who matured for his riding stint in Victoria, Move To Strike engulfed the field with an undeniable finish from last, while stable-mate Captured By Love (Written Tycoon) ran a creditable third. 

“It was a brilliant win today and he’s always been an outstanding colt, since the day Dave (Ellis) bought him as a yearling,” said Mark Walker, who trains with Sam Bergerson. 

“We had a bit of a hiccup at Matamata, but special thanks to our vet, Dr. Ronan Costello, who had the confidence with us to keep going. We put the setback behind him, trialled him against the older horses and were very happy with the way he went. 

“He’s a very exciting horse that we are really looking forward to his three-year-old season with, but a brilliant win today.”

In winning, Move To Strike became the 98th Group One win for the stable, and 45th purchased by David Ellis among 53 individual Group One winners. 

Owned by the Te Akau 2023 Stallion Breeding Syndicate (Mgr: Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM), Move To Strike was purchased by David Ellis CNZM for A$525,000, from the draft of Baramul Stud, at 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. 

“It’s incredibly exciting to win a Group One race with a colt by Champion Sire I Am Invincible, which just makes him so valuable, and I think I’m right in saying that he is the first Group One winning two-year-old colt for the sire,” Ellis said.

“It’s a special day for the owners that invested in the 2023 Breeding Syndicate, and while he caused a few headaches after winning so brilliantly on debut, the efforts by Mark and Sam and our assistant trainer Nicole Shailer to get him dead-right is just amazing.

“And Wiremu (Pinn), he’s had his moments too, but he’s a very competitive young lad that has stuck with what he has the skills to do at a high level. He has always been a pretty natural jockey, and to ride so patiently in a Group One race takes a lot of courage.

“He timed it perfectly, got the colt balanced the horse did the rest. It’s very satisfying for everyone involved.”

By reigning Australian Champion Sire I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), Move To Strike is bred on the same I Am Invincible/ Shamardal cross as 10-time Group One winner and Te Akau stable star Imperatriz (I Am Invincible).

Dam No Evidence Needed won six races – including four successively – from 1200m – 1600m, including the Let’s Elope Stakes (Gr. 2, 1400m) at Flemington, Southern Cross Stakes (Gr. 3, 1200m) at Rosehill, and twice Group One placed: one of those in the Schwepps Oaks (Gr. 1, 2000m) at Morphettville. 

She was regarded as a game big filly that possessed a good turn of foot, and to date left six individual winners of 15 races, including Group Two placed Discharged (Snitzel). 

Dam sire Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway), once third in the TRC Global World Sire Rankings, has left 45 Group One winners worldwide, and now establishing himself as a broodmare sire of the highest calibre. 

The second dam Generosa is by Epsom Derby (Gr. 1, 2400m) winner Generous, who added plenty of impetus when standing in New Zealand, while the third dam is by legendary sire Danehill. 

In training at Matamata, Move To Strike is scheduled to trial on 6 August at Te Rapa.

Te Akau previous wins in the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr. 1, 1400m):

2022 – Maven Belle (Burgundy)

2021 – On The Bubbles (Brazen Beau) 

2019 – Yourdeel (Dundeel)

2018 – Avantage (Fastnet Rock) 

2017 – Melody Belle (Iffraaj) 

2005 – Kindacross (Cape Cross) 

2003 – Maroofity (Maroof)