Te Akau Shines at SI Awards

Te Akau Racing was well represented and won three titles at the South Island Racing Awards, held on Friday 12 September in the Tea House at Riccarton Racecourse.

Te Akau had recently won three titles at both the Matamata Racing Awards and the New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards, dominated by Champion Two-Year-Old La Dorada (Super Seth) and Te Akau Racing trainers Mark Walker & Sam Bergerson, who kept alive an unbeaten six-year streak for the stable when winning Te Akau's 16th Training Premiership title in the 2024/25 season.

Walker & Bergerson established a new national record of $9.27 million in prize money, while as a comparison to illustrate the increased prize money on offer, the record-breaking season of 203 wins and $8.25 million in stake money was established in 2022/23 by Walker. He was the joined in partnership by Bergerson to achieve 169 wins and $8 million in stakes money during the 2023/24 season, and Walker also steered the Te Akau stable at Cranbourne (Victoria) to win NZ$7.6 million in stake money in Australia.

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Contributing in the process of notching 131 wins last season, the Te Akau South Island stable, based at Riccarton, recorded 50 victories, including four stakes’ wins, three of which occurred during NZ Cup Week in November, to win South Island Trainer of the Year.

Walker & Bergerson are ably assisted at the Riccarton Stables by assistant trainer Hunter Durrant, who manages the horses and team, while increasingly becoming an integral member of the training team. Horses that were south for individual missions eg Cup Week were not counted in the tally. With an average of 20 horses in training at the southern stable, this is a huge result.

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After winning the title last year with unbeaten Nucleozor (Almanzor) last year, Te Akau again won SI Champion Two-Year-Old with Cool Aza Rene (2 f Cool Aza Beel – Irene, by Xtravagant).

A winner on debut, Cool Aza Rene won four of her five starts last season, culminating her campaign with victory over 1000 metres in June at Riccarton.

Cool Aza Rene was purchased by David Ellis CNZM for A$55,000 at the 2024 Gold Coast Yearling Sale, from the draft of Newhaven Park, and is owned by the Te Akau One Cool Beel Racing Partnership (Mgr: Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM).

Ellis also purchased her sire, Cool Aza Beel (Savabeel), as a yearling at Karaka, and he was named New Zealand's Champion Two-Year-Old, after winning the $1 million Karaka Million 2YO 1200m) and Group 1 Sistema Stakes. He now stands at Newhaven Park Stud (N.S.W.), where he sired $1 million J J Atkins (Gr. 1, 1600m) winner Cool Archie from his first crop.

Ellis also purchased dual Group One winner Xtravagant, the dam-sire of Cool Aza Rene, who stands alongside Cool Aza Beel at Newhaven Park Stud.

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After winning New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year eight times, Te Akau was rewarded when Dream Of The Moon (3 f All Too Hard – Moonchild, by Charge Forward) won NZ Bloodstock SOUTHERN FILLY OF THE YEAR.

Owned by the Te Akau Moon Dreaming Racing Partnership (Mgr: Karyn Fenton-Ellis MZNM), Dream Of The Moon was purchased by David Ellis CNZM for A$160,000 at the 2023 Gold Coast Yearling Sale, from the draft of Glenbeigh Farm.

A brilliant winner as a two-year-old at Riccarton, Dream Of The Moon had her three-year-old spring campaign thwarted by injury after finishing runner-up in both the Listed Canterbury Belle Stakes (1200m) and Group 3 Barneswood Stakes (1400m), but returned to win fresh-up over 1200 metres before toying with the opposition in the Listed NZB Airfreight Stakes (1600m), while acquiring the most points in the four race Series to win the title.

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Te Akau has a tremendous record of training horses in the South Island, highlighted by seven victories in both the Group 1 NZ 1000 Guineas (1600m) and Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas (1600m) - more than any other stable in the history of the iconic events.

Reflecting on the Te Akau 2024/25 season in the South Island, and the awards, Te Akau principal David Ellis CNZM said: “Karyn and I are just so proud of the performances by the Te Akau horses in the South Island, and the job done by our assistant trainer Hunter Durrant who looks after them and the team of staff.

“Te Akau has always supported South Island racing. We had stables from 2002 to 2013 at Rangiora, have based horses since on the course at Riccarton, and have a really good team of permanent staff there.

“The prize money is just as good in the South Island, it means we can divide our horses and compete in all races around New Zealand, and I think South Island racing benefits and will continue to strengthen with us being there.

“To have the Champion Two-Year-Old, the Southern Filly of Year and the trainers' title is a real thrill, and we’ve had a good start down there again this season.”