Te Akau Team Member of the Month

Te Akau Racing is proud to announce its second "Team Member of the Month" - a recognition that was introduced last month with the inaugural winner being Tracy Collis.

Congratulations to the winner of our May 2019 Team Member of the Month award - Julie Solomon ...

Julie is a stable hand at Te Akau's main stable, where Tracy Collis (staff member of the month in April) is foreman.

“Julie is one of those really good people to have around the stables,” said trainer Jamie Richards.

“She's always smiling and happy to be there. She arrives early and nothing is ever a problem. She's always one of the first to put her hand up for taking horses to the races and she's very good at managing horses on race day. 

“She works hard, gets on with her job, adds to the team spirit, and is a pleasure to have in our Te Akau team. She typifies the type of people we need in the industry.”

Julie Solomon:

Julie was quite emotional and fighting back a few tears when saying: “I returned to Te Akau recently and it's only the second time I've been recognised for what I do”.

Whatever Tracy needs me to do, I just do it. She's the boss at the main stable and we do as she says with pleasure, she really knows horses.

I like the hours. They're good hours. I'm at the stables about 3.30 a.m., bringing in horses from the paddocks and feeding and then loading and unloading the truck that goes down the road to the track. We're finished mid-morning and come back at 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the latest.

In the afternoons I help with the medications, brush the horses up for inspections and videos, and some bandaging. Tracy usually varies the jobs we do.

We've got really good people on staff  and there is plenty with a lot of horse experience. It's a relaxed atmosphere to work in and Jamie and Tracy are great to ask questions of. It's a great atmosphere and everybody gets their jobs done. And if you need a hand with a horse, people will drop what they're doing and help. 

David is a good bossto work for. He always says hello and he knows the names of all the staff. And Karyn is the same. They'll ask how you are.

Taking horses to the races and the trialsis what I enjoy the most. My favourite horse is Frankie (Al Haram). He reminds me of my boy, Long Black. 

I was born and bred in the racing industryand it's in my blood. I like that Matamata is small and I can walk everywhere. I don't like big cities. Matamata is a real place and I feel comfortable. 

“Te Akau Racing is fortunate to have such good staff,” said David Ellis. “I keep emphasising that because these people love horses they're prepared to get up at 3.30 a.m. in winter and summer, rain, hail, and shine, six days a week. 

“We create opportunities for young people with horse experience to get involved in a thoroughbred business that we try to run as professionally as we can, and also employ people that have spent their careers working in the industry and bring enormous amounts of experience.

“Karyn and I wanted to put this award and recognition scheme in place as a way of saying thanks to all the team from us and all of our owners. We all appreciate that our horses are given every opportunity to fulfil their potential - by the care and attention of those looking after them.

“We're giving the staff member of the month a cash prize and the overall winner will receive an all expenses paid trip for two to the Gold Coast.”

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