Te Akau Team Member of the Quarter

Te Akau is proud to announce our Team Member of the Quarter - Reece Trumper ...

“Reece is genuine young guy on his way up in the industry and is a very deserving winner of the award for this quarter,” said trainer Jamie Richards. “He has a lot of good to offer, is very enthusiastic and nothing is ever a problem. 

“He's a really encouraging member of our staff, he's well liked, comes from a family of good horse people and I think he's got a bright future.  He's only too happy to help in any given situation and he always wants to do any task properly and in the most professional manner - these are great attributes.”

 

Reece Trumper:

I practically do everything and like to be at the stables each morning about 3.30 a.m. I get all the saddles ready for when the riders get there. I saddle horses and take them swimming. I can be left alone to run the Middle Barn if need be and am flexible to work in the Colt Barn, too. 

I go to a lot of races and trials. I took Richard of Yorke (Oasis Dream) to Ellerslie by myself when Jamie (Richards) and Libby (Richards) were at Hastings, and they trust me that I can prepare a horse for the race. They know I'll do the job right. I'm usually on the first truck to the trials, so everything is set up ready and prepared for when the next horses arrive.

Working with well bred horses is what I like most about my job. It's fair to say that my Granddad (trainer & stud master John Trumper) has never had the breed of horse that Te Akau has. I love pedigrees and am really into the young horses that David (Ellis) buys. It's easy to get up in the morning when you get to work with nicely bred horses. I know our team is always going well, and Jamie is just a great trainer and he certainly gets the winners. I aspire to be the next Jamie Richards.

Nicole Shailer, Sam Bergerson and Scott Lucock have taught me everything I know really but I probably admire Mette (Mosebo) the most. Mette and I are a couple and she is an inspiration - she never has sick days, she's always on time and she puts her job before anything else, and that's what I'm trying to be like. She's pretty much my mentor and my role model. 

Nicole Shailer is foreman at the Middle Barn and she has taught me so much. Just on a year ago, I strapped my first winner for Te Akau when Zareeba (Rip Van Winkle) won at New Plymouth, and I strapped Vincere (Pins) last week when she won at New Plymouth. I was talking to Libby (Richards) about it. I didn't even know to bandage a horse a year ago, let along going to the races with a horse by myself, so I've come along way and that's mainly due to Nicole teaching me everything. She has such an eye for detail and everything she does, she does perfectly.

Working for Te Akau Racing is great. Dave & Karyn, Jamie, they put the staff first and make sure we are all happy. We work early in the morning, but it's not that hard and it's good that we're so well looked after. And all the staff would probably say the same.

David is terrific to work for and I don't think I could have a better boss, to be honest. Lockdown was probably really good as I stayed at the farm and I got to know David on a personal level. I try to keep in touch with him as much as possible and if I have a question I'll ask him. Hopefully, I'll go around with him and inspect some yearlings leading up to the sales in January. He's great and I really get on with Dave. He's really good to me and looks after me a lot, both Dave and Karyn do. 

During lockdown, Mette (Mosebo), Sam (Bergerson) and I went out to Te Akau Stud for 10 weeks to help with all the spellers, because the stables closed. It was our job to feed and look after them while Enzo (De Leoni - Equine Manager) and his team were breaking in the yearlings. 

Need I Say More (No Nay Never) winning the Sarten Memorial (Gr. 2, 1400m) would probably be the biggest win of my career. It's a great race to win. Some really good horses have won it and it really meant a lot to me. I hadn't done a lot of work with him. Mette and Scott (Lucock) had done the majority of work with him at the Colt Barn, but I was lucky enough to take him to the races. But, when I'm at the Colt Barn I try to do the most with him. I'm grateful to them for letting me take him.

Vamos Bebe (I Am Invincible) and Need I Say More are two of my favourite horses and I have a lot of time for Sneaky Shark (Capitalist), and think he is a top chance to win the Karaka Million. I was at the sale with Dave and Jamie, and a Capitalist came into the ring and I asked Jamie what he thought of them. He told me to go and have a look at Lot 646 (Sneaky Shark). I went and had a look with Mette, and said to her this could be the Karaka Million winner for 2021, and I still believe he will win it.

Capitalist would be the best two-year-old I've ever seen race and I think the only horse to have won both the Magic Millions (Restricted Listed, 1200m) and Golden Slipper (Gr. 1, 1200m) double. It takes a very good two-year-old to hold their form and win those two races. There is quite a lot of speed through his family and his pedigree really said 'two-year-old speed'. He was actually passed in at the sales and Dave didn't buy him until March, and when I saw him at the farm and how much he'd matured, it was astonishing. Even though he ran second the other day (on debut at Ellerslie), I still think he'll win the Karaka Million. He came through it really well and has gone to the water walker for 10 days, and he'll race again late December or early January. Opie (Bosson) got off him after he won his trial at Ellerslie, and said: “this horse is well above average”. 

I work in the racing industry because I love the winning feeling. Going to the races and meeting people, and from when I strapped my first winner I thought ‘I love this feeling' and I want it to continue. Every time I go to the races and strap a winner, I'm the happiest person and that's the feeling that you like the most. I love seeing a horse progress from putting a saddle on it for the first time, working with it for 10 weeks, and seeing it go to the races and win. It means a lot.

My introduction was through my grandparents, John & Sue Trumper, who have Cheveley Stud (Te Aroha). They stood some nice stallions and got Group One winners: Gee I Jane, Pakaraka Star and Bulginbaah, he was also good. My Auntie Lou (McGregor) trained Grande Bellezza (Oratorio) to win a Dunstan Stayers' Final. Granddad still trains a few horses and I have a share in one, Dawnting (Dawn Approach), and he's a nice horse. But, it's mainly my Nana and Granddad as the reason I'm in racing. Mum was brought up on a dairy farm and dad was a builder. They have moved to Cambridge, to be closer to my brother and me. My brother Nathan works for Blandford Lodge and he was recently awarded the Irish National Scholarship (Keith & Faith Taylor Trust Equine Scholarship, administered by NZTBA, for a breeding diploma at Irish National Stud). 

Growing up in Stratford, I worked for trainers Chris Bothwell and Gavin Sharrock. They gave me a lot of confidence working with horses and they really looked after me. They said going to Te Akau was the best thing I could have done to further my career. And, I'm doing that. 

David (Ellis) and Karyn (Fenton-Ellis) introduced the monthly award
as a way of saying thanks to all the team, from themselves and also on behalf of the owners, in appreciation of horses being given the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

David (Ellis) and Karyn (Fenton-Ellis) introduced the monthly award
as a way of saying thanks to all the team, from themselves and also on behalf of the owners, in appreciation of horses being given the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

“We create opportunities for young people 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.”

The Team Member of the Quarter receives a cash prize and the overall
annual winner, an all expenses paid trip for two to Queenstown.

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