Te Akau Sunday Update

David writes:

We couldn't have picked a better way to start sales week - what an incredible evening of racing it was on Saturday!

A massive congratulations to New Zealand Bloodstock and the Auckland Racing Club for putting on another fantastic Karaka Million twilight race evening. The track was in beautiful condition, the crowd was as big as I had ever seen at Ellerslie and the atmosphere was electric - it was the place to be.

It was also great to see our new Minister for Racing and the Deputy Prime Minister, the Right Honorable Grant Robertson in attendance at our biggest feature on the racing calendar. He thoroughly enjoyed the evening and has just officially opened the 2021 Karaka Yearling Sales this afternoon.

Our trainer, Jamie Richards was in vintage form again. He started the evening by taking out the first race with Need I Say More (the Group 3 Cambridge Stud Almanzor Trophy), running second with In A Twinkling in the next race (Karaka Cup) which was followed with Star of Bombay running fourth in the third race, the Group 2 Westbury Classic.

The excitement didn't stop there - Jamie had the first four runners home in the 2YO Karaka Million - with On The Bubbles winning our fifth consecutive Karaka 2YO Million title, with stablemates Sneaky Shark, Avonallo and Sophisticardo making up the first four.

Next race the tangerine was to the fore again with Entriviere, fortunately getting a start off the ballot, taking out the Group 3 Brighthill Farm Concorde Handicap.  This promising 4YO daughter of Tavistock is an exciting racehorse and her performance confirmed the high regard in which she is held. Jamie and the team concluded the evening with classy Savabeel filly Amarelinha finishing second in the $1 million Karaka 3YO Classic - from a wide draw, it was an inspired performance.

Congratulations to our incredible team that has put in such a tremendous effort with our horses - it certainly doesn't go unnoticed and these results just shows how invested and dedicated our team is.

Now we focus our attention the Karaka Sales.

For those of you who are unable to make it to the sales' complex over the next few days, the sales will be broadcast live from 1pm on Sunday via channel 263 (which is a pop up channel). From Monday, they will be broadcast from channel 200 for the remaining days. You can also can watch them live on the NZB website (www.nzb.co.nz).

Both Karyn and I will be busy buying yearlings today, we have our eyes on several athletes - the quality of horses at this sale is remarkable. If you would like to be involved in buying a horse outright or taking a small share in a nice colt or filly, now is the time to get in touch. Feel free to ring me on 021 925 151 - you will be made to feel very welcome.Even if there is a horse that has caught your eye, give me a call or text and we can take it from there.

Each year, I have to remind our owners to strike while the iron is hot - don't hesitate in contacting us if you see a yearling that you would like to be a part of. Shares in these horses sell extremely quickly, and hesitation in contacting us often leads to the disappointment of missing out!

This is the year to invest racehorse - it is going to be great buying Karaka. Jamie Richards and myself, along with our team experts in the field have down all our homework for this years sale. The shortlists are in place and now we are ready to buy quality horses for our owners.

Have a great week everyone, and best of luck to our owners who have runners at Matamata tomorrow.