Te Akau Thursday Update

David writes:

Each morning I like to be in the office by 5.00am (I know!!!-Ed) so that I can clear my desk, reply to emails that arrived overnight and generally be super organised by the time daylight arrives and when our first staff are also due.

James Jackson, our head breaker, starts work at 6.00am every morning with the yearlings that we are breaking in and the team, that runs the farm starts at 7.00am.

I have noticed that the mornings have chilled off considerably and this morning we had a lot of mist but by 8.30am this was well gone and it is another beautiful day in store.  Yesterday was blue skies and 28 degrees with no cloud at all and I get the feeling today won't be too much different.  It is really very dry now in the Waikato and I would think that another week of this weather and the government will declare a drought.

We are very fortunate at Te Akau Stud that all of our cattle are sold and we still have plenty of grass but the quality of good grass has all gone.  I always say that we don't want rain in February - it creates more problems than it solves.  With 28 degree days, any moisture soon disappears but we will certainly be wanting it from mid March onwards.  Each night I look at the TV One weather forecast and it drives me mad when they predict showers coming most days and of course they hardly EVER arrive!

The horses at our Matamata stable look to be completely over the cough that we have had and we have four smart horses racing on our home Matamata track on Saturday - the biggest day of the year for the Matamata Racing Club.

In racing order, Arpeggio lines up in the 3YO 1400m, Unsurpassed in the $50,000 Listed Matamata Slipper for 2YO colts and geldings, Special Memories in the $100,000 Group 2 Matamata Breeders' Stakes for 2YO fillies and Spellbinder returns in the Open Sprint.  All of our horses will be ridden by Jockeys' Premiership winner (and current leader this season) Matt Cameron - what an advantage that is.

The Matamata track has a new irrigation unit that is world class and you can expect a beautiful track for Saturday with some give in it.  The Matamata track manager Graham Styles is as good an operator as there is in New Zealand.

Today I am going again to Matamata, this time to attend Marie O'Sullivan's funeral.  I have known Marie since 1977 when I had my first horse in work with the late Bill Ford.  Bill's wife Dawn and Marie were close friends and of course she is the wife of Dave (DJ) and mother of two very great friends of mine, Lance and Paul O'Sullivan.

Then it is back to Hamilton where I am attending a Waikato Racing Club board dinner with Karyn and her team and their partners.  It has been a very busy week for Karyn too with her Arts' Council and WRC Board commitments all week.