Te Akau Thursday Update

David writes:

We had a very busy morning at the farm today as usual! I have put this story on the dictaphone while watching three horses work -Super Power owned by a syndicate put together by Aidan Rodley (a Trackside presenter and former Racing Editor of the Waikato Times) with Jamie Richards aboard; a Saperavi/Aventura gelding being ridden by Charlotte Kellow and Frock, a Road to Rock filly ridden by Sophie Fowlie and owned by a syndicate which includes Road to Rock's owner Wellfield Lodge proprietor Bill Gleeson.

These three horses walk from the stables to the airstrip where they trot six times around and then pace work six times around - this is slightly more work than we give horses at Matamata but they are far more relaxed working on the farm, away from the bustle of the Matamata track.

After doing that we take them for a walk through the farm and they have a nice canter up the race and then walk home - the whole exercise takes an hour and a half.  We have had huge success working horses on the farm and their winter coats move quickly and the horses really relax.  Working on the farm is also particularly useful for horses that need to strengthen up or highly strung horses as they really benefit from long walks each day.

The team has just finished getting six yearlings in that we have in the sales' series and we are going to give them a brush down as Danny Rolston of New Zealand Bloodstock is due to come and inspect the yearlings before he and the team decide which sale the horses are entered in.

This morning Alan Radford also arrived at the farm to inspect the cattle that I purchased yesterday - 26 steers and 16 bulls - interestingly with the cattle I feel the store prices are still relatively cheap whereas the export schedule for cattle that we are selling is going up each day.

As soon as this is completed I am off to Auckland as I am flying to Sydney for the races this weekend.  Tomorrow Darley and Godolphin Australia CEO Henry Plumptre is taking me out to John O'Shea's stable at Warwick Farm (pictured below) to show me the horses and then it's off to the pre-training farm where I am going to see how they go about breaking all the horses in and pre-training horses on such a major scale.

This is one of the great weekends of racing in Australia and takes me back 22 years to when Te Akau Nick won the Group 1 Metropolitan - which was Gai Waterhouse's first Group 1 winner.  Hasn't she been a huge success?  it is hard to comprehend just what she has achieved in only 22 years.

Tomorrow Karyn has the Waikato Racing Club's meeting at Te Rapa before heading to Auckland.  She is really excited about her First Call programme being broadcast for the first time out of the Auckland studio with the addition of a new panelist to keep Stuey Laing on the straight and narrow!!

Jason Bridgman and Pam Gerard will be on hand looking after our Hawkes Bay team on Saturday.  We have some very nice chances - it is still early in the season and all of our horses are still improving - nevertheless the way some of these horses have been working, we would like to think they can run in the money.  Jamie Richards will also be at Hastings on Saturday and is looking forward to talking to our owners and looking after them - he is keen to discuss the upcoming Ready to Run sale that we are now turning our attention to.

One thing that has been discussed a lot lately is the topic of the politician's wife criticising her husband's colleagues anonymously on twitter - I think anyone who hides behind a nom de plume is gutless - and it is not about politics, it is just such a negative thing to do.  If it is the truth and you mean it, then put your name to it.

It is an exciting time of the year with the yearling sales around the corner and that is my favourite time of the year.

To those of you who have been to Te Akau Stud recently, you will have seen that I have just planted 40 trees of which 25 are cherry blossoms and they are just flowering and look absolutely beautiful - as they mature they will really look incredible.  Each year I am going to plant 40 trees around the farm - I am really enjoying doing this.

Have a great weekend!