Te Akau Sunday Update

David writes:

No racing in Singapore tonight so we will have a quiet night going over everything we have planned for the busy upcoming week ahead.

I don't know where the year is disappearing to ... on Friday week we are in to May already then in the second week of May I am going to Hong Kong for three days to meet with owners and then will link up with Karyn and our owners who will be in Singapore.

Then I return home for 10 days before we (the boys' brigade - Ed.) leave for the Gold Coast for the yearling sale and then home for 10 days before we head overseas for our holiday.  Karyn is actually leaving before me so we will meet up in London.

This year Karyn and I are going to Royal Ascot which is one of the best weeks of racing in the world - certainly up there with Melbourne Cup Week.

Yesterday we had 80 mls of rain on the farm which is just wonderful - it's great for the hills which really needed it.  So we have had well over 100 mls over the past week and the best thing is, it is still relatively warm - in fact 22 degrees when I drove back from Auckland today.

This week we are going to take full advantage of the increased beef prices by selling 300 cattle.  It is important to get the stock numbers down to our normal level as we head into winter.

Did you see our Pentire colt Xtravagant win yesterday at Hastings?  It was the first race for this full brother to He's Remarkable and he is one of the most beautiful colts that you will ever see.

Our plan was to ride him off the pace, but he jumped so quickly and well that he was forced to lead and won easing down by 7.25 lengths.  With Matt Cameron at the premier meeting at Ellerslie and Cameron Lammas suspended, the colt was ridden by Mark Sweeney, one of the great guys in racing. It was a breathtaking debut and we are very excited about this colt's future.

Speaking of Cameron Lammas - it was a huge weekend for him and his partner Tracey as they tied the knot - I know you will join Karyn and me in sending them our very warmest congratulations.

Back to racing and it was terrific to see Jason win the stakes' race at Riccarton - the $50,000 Listed NZB Warstep Stakes - with the Savabeel filly  No Tricks.  She was bred and is raced by Paul and Cushla Smithies who have had a fantastic year with the horses they have bred.  They must surely be favourites for the Champion Breeder of the Year award at the end of the season.  Jamie Richards, our Racing Manager was on hand (having also been in the south for the sale) and made the speech on behalf of Te Akau and the filly's owners.  All credit too to Steve O'Neill who did such a great job in Christchurch with the filly we know as "Cushla".

It was also a real thrill to get a valuable black type placing for Vive La Difference who ran a super race to finish third (and a little unlucky at that) in the $100,000 Group 2 Championship Stakes at Ellerslie.  So our horses performed really well at all three venues.

Going back to Xtravagant - he is one of four colts that I bought at last year's sale for our 2014 breeding syndicate and he is that syndicate's first runner.  The syndicate has a Savabeel colt called Splurge that has won a trial and is out spelling as well as two Fastnet Rock colts, so the team has a lot to look forward to.

This year I bought three yearlings for our 2015 syndicate - the sales' topping Fastnet Rock filly out of the Champion 2YO Il Quello Veloce, the Fastnet Rock colt out of Myrrh and the Snitzel colt out of Mini Tales.  This syndicate of blue bloods has been hugely popular and now we have only 2.5% remaining - and with the way that the progeny of Fastnet Rock and Snitzel are running, being involved in these three is a unique and very exciting opportunity.  Please email Karyn if you are keen on being involved - [email protected].

Speaking of yearlings from Karaka - I was delighted to see the close relatives of two of the yearlings I bought from Karaka, perform at the top level over the weekend.

There was a smile on my face when Ponderosa Miss and Vespa ran the quinella in the Group 1 Manco Easter Handicap - I bought Ponderosa Miss' half sister by Rip Van Winkle at Karaka this year and also Vespa's half brother by Zacinto.  Both yearlings are fully sold and to see such significant pedigree updates this soon is fantastic for our owners.

Karyn and I were so sad to learn that Philip Vela passed away on Saturday morning. Karyn and I spent a week on our honeymoon 11 years ago with Philip and his wife Lyn and he was such a character with an awesome sense of humour.  Te Akau has won well over 130 races for Philip and his brother Sir Peter.

Philip's keen business mind and leadership will always be remembered together with our admiration for the special and engaging personality he was.  Who can ever forget him holding the Hong Kong Cup aloft in one hand after the stirring win by Romanee Conti who he and Sir Peter bred - together with other wonderful thoroughbreds such as Ethereal and Darci Brahma.   Everyone at Te Akau sends Lyn and their daughters and grandchildren our most sincere sympathies - Philip will be sorely missed.

Te Akau racing was in attendance at last week's South Island Session of the Karaka Sale and we bought two yearlings - a filly and a colt.

The filly is by Iffraaj who has sired some fantastic fillies eg NZB Filly of the Year Fix and is from a family that we have had huge success with.  This filly's grandmother was a top two year old that won FOUR stakes races in a row when trained at Te Akau by Stephen Autridge.  I sold her when she finished racing and then bought her first foal, a Zabeel filly named Let's Cruise.  Let's Cruise won the Group 2 Championship Stakes at Ellerslie - I bought her for $40,000 at Karaka and we sold her to the United States for significant money.

We also trained this filly's dam Lady Sakura - this is also a family known well to the late Jim Bull who raced Lady Bay with me.  Jim was a really successful farmer and was President of the NZ Racing Conference.

This filly was excellent buying at $23,000 - as was our colt.  By Coats Choice, we paid $22,000 for him and he's also a lovely cut of a horse as you can see - he is a particularly nice type from a winning family and remind us a lot of Fine Choice.  We bought Fine Choice from last year's South Island sale and he won a trial before his owners decided to send him to Singapore.  He debuted in March and really caught the eye when finishing second in a $90,000 maiden 2YO event - earning his owners $17,212 in the process!