Te Akau Sunday Update

19 January, 2025

Te Akau Sunday Update


David writes:

This is such a busy time of the year for us, for Karyn and me and the whole team, but it’s also a time of the year we just love.  racing is top of mind with the team busy with racing most days through the summer 'break'.

The Magic Million's sale concluded last week and we ended up with 21 brand new yearling purchases. This is the most we have ever bought from this sale, but the quality was undeniable and we were determined to have these outstanding youngster sin our stable for our owners to enjoy.

It's a sale from where we have had incredible success - horses such as Group 1 winners Imperatriz, Sword of State, Captured By Love, Move To Strike were all bought by me from this sale, as was debut stakes' winner, exciting colt Return To Conquer.

The shares in our Magic Millions' yearlings have never sold more quickly - our colt and filly partnerships for this year were snapped up within hours. 

It's really exciting and also very humbling to see the incredible support we are receiving. Our long-term, loyal owners have been very active getting involved with our Gold Coast yearlings, and we are proud to be welcoming many new owners to the stable too - from Australia and New Zealand and much further afield too.

One filly that I absolutely love - and I am so surprised we still ave shares available - is Lot 134 a Savabeel filly out of Alezan. This filly is absolute class and, in my opinion, will finish up being a really good racehorse.  She has an excellent pedigree and, you will be interested to know, the biggest ears I have seen on a horse in a very long time - a great sign.

That's her in the main picture and it's probably not easy to see, but those ears are enormous. When I look at this filly, I can see her being a real Group 1 NZ 1000 Guineas' type if ever I have seen one. 

It’s just incredible the success that Te Akau Racing has over the years with Savabeel, in fact his stats show that we have the best record of any stable with the progeny of the multiple-champion sire.  

Obviously we have had huge success with Savabeel's sons such as Group 1 winners Embellish, Noverre, Cool Aza Beel, Sword of Osman, Prise De Fer and Hall of Fame - and in terms of his fillies - we have won Group 1 races with the likes of Probabeel (twice Horse of the Year), Amarelinha, Skew Wiff, The Perfect Pink and Savy Yong Blonk.

Another colt that I bought that I can highly recommend is Lot 225 – a Home Affairs' colt out of Booker. I paid A$300,000 for this colt who is out of a Written Tycoon mare. He is from a family that is really on the move and his dam Booker's yearling (so a half sibling by I Am Invincible to this colt) sold at Sydney easter sale in 2024 for A$3 million!  Watch this space - this colt is terrific buying!

I am predicting Booker will be a very good broodmare, and this is a colt that I could see in the Group 1 Sires’ Produce races as a two year old that trains on to be a Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas colt that could then very likely campaign in top races in Australia.

Home Affairs stands at Coolmore Stud, is by I am Invincible, and is a really exciting sire in the making so if you want to race a Group 1 horse, colt or filly, with Te Akau Racing these are two I can recommend.

We have spent the past week inspecting yearlings for the Karaka sale. 

On Tuesday we went to Wentwood Grange and Cambridge Stud. On Wednesday we went to Rich Hill and Waikato Stud and Thursday we visited Carlaw, Windsor Park and then Curraghmore.

This week we will be based in Auckland and out at the Karaka sale grounds to inspect yearlings from the South Island and the Central Districts. Then we will be starting our second look, so that by Saturday morning we have our shor- list in place and the horses will all be vetted.

We are really looking forward to next Saturday - Karaka Millions' night and then the sale starts at Karaka the very next day on Sunday 26 January. If you would like to come out to the sale, please do come and say hello to us - you would be made to feel very welcome.

This past week we have sold 650 lambs to Wilson Hellaby and three truck and trailer loads of steers to Greenlea. The lambs killed out at 17.5kilos, and the steers averaged 335 kgs.

While everything continues to go well on the farm, it is however certainly starting to dry out now with a lot of wind, sunshine and heat. This Tuesday we are branding the foals at Te Akau Stud and then we start weaning them so it’s a very busy time of the year.  The farm team is doing a great job handling these new arrivals!

I am looking forward to bringing you another update during the week, sharing all our thoughts on the sale as the countdown is on!


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