Te Akau Sunday Update

David writes:

It's certainly the busy time of the year with another huge week coming up, following the one just finished!

Today we drafted two units of heavy ox to go to the works before daylight tomorrow as I have to be at The Oaks Stud in Cambridge by 10am and then on to Milan Park, Leanach Lodge and then home for the evening.

On Tuesday we start at Carlaw Park, then Woburn Farm, Phoenix Park and we will finish our inspections at Koru Thoroughbreds.

Then on Wednesday we are on the 7.00am flight to Palmerston North where we will look at the yearlings in the Central Districts and then we will drive to Little Avondale Stud on Thursday for inspections there before flying back to Hamilton that evening.

This week is very busy for all the team on the farm with a truck and trailer of beef going each day and our second pick of lambs will head to Wilson Hellaby on Wednesday - we expect to get 600 lambs away.

We had fantastic rain here on Friday night - 29mls of rain fell with a further 9mls on Saturday and this will be amazing for all the nine paddocks we cut for haylage.  It is turning into a really top season.

I was very pleased with the Ministerial Advisory Committee announced by the Minister for Racing a few days ago.

The Chairman is Dean McKenzie and he is easily one of the smartest racing administrators in my lifetime and should have been running New Zealand racing before now.  A highly competent and passionate man whose skills will be invaluable to this group.  He has an understanding of the issues and the solutions like few others do.   He is a real racing person with a very high intellect and has a terrific capacity to get things done.

Another committee member is Sir Peter Vela who has made a huge success of everything he has ever done.  He not only has a huge intellect and commercial expertise but he also really understands every aspect of the racing and breeding industries - as well as the TAB and how betting woks around the world.   Plus it is refreshing to have someone with an investment in the industry to be making recommendations and decisions on our behalf.  I don't know the other three committee members so well but they seem to come well qualified.

I have no doubt that this is a turning point for the industry and I am very confident that there will be some really good news to start next season with.

Yesterday's race meeting at Te Rapa for Waikato Cup Day was a terrific success.  There was a massive crowd on course and a great atmosphere.  The only thing that we all could have done without on such a big day (and this was not any way the Club's fault) was some idiot setting off two different fire alarms in the afternoon which meant that the stands and buildings had to be evacuated twice - then of course the races had to be delayed as a result.

Then right at the end of the day, the rain came bucketing down (when the races would have been over if not for the false fire alarms and the subsequent delays).  All credit to the stipendiary stewards, they again delayed the meeting to see if it would pass and the final two races, including the Group 3 Sprint could be staged.  Much to most people's surprise, the stewards and senior jockey Michael Coleman came back after a track inspection and deemed it was safe for the show to go on, and the final two races were run.  That was quite some achievement for the track to hold up under such a deluge of rain in such a short time.  Even at the start of the day to go from a Dead5 and upgrade to a Dead4, given the tremendous amount of rain Hamilton had copped during the week.

I was so rapt to have another winner for Chris Rutten at Te Rapa and wasn't Yourdeel impressive?  He is raced by Chris with John Norwood and Rod Preston.  A son of Dundeel, this gelding is another really good chance that Jamie and the team will have for the Karaka Million in late January.

It will be very interesting to see which one of our Karaka Million entrants Opie chooses to ride.  My policy is that he can have the choice regardless of who owns any horse.  Last year we had Opie, Hugh Bowman (they ran the quinella), Matt Cameron and Danielle Johnson on our Karaka Million runners.  This coming edition will be no different and we will have five top jockeys again, with a couple of top Sydney jockeys certainly in the loop.

After a week of inspecting yearlings, I am amazed at the quality that I have seen.  In New Zealand we have had an incredible growing season so the foals were all weaned on the best grass you could imagine - whereas in Australia, tragically, many horse farms haven't had rain for two years which does have an impact, in my opinion - bone growth is just so important in young horses for their future soundness.

So I am predicting some very good racehorses will come out of the 2019 Karaka Yearling Sales - so this is a really good time to get involved in the racing industry!

I believe it will be a buyers' market for sure.  There will be a large number of well-grown, sound yearlings.  Importantly, significant stake increases should arrive from the start of next season.

If you would like to come and inspect some yearlings with me, you will be very welcome - feel free to call me on 021 925151.

Have a great week ahead!