Te Akau Thursday Update

David writes:

It has been a busy week so far here at Te Akau Stud - I have felt really sorry for all our staff both here and at the stable as the weather has been shocking - very wet and very cold.  Our teams are amazing - nothing stops, nothing slows down - they work hard and diligently despite the cold and wet and wind - and there has been plenty of all three.

The main picture with this story is of the crisp frost we had this morning at the farm and it was a beauty!  The first serious frost of winter - well winter is almost officially here isn't it?

The one good thing about having a frost like this is that the day usually transforms into a cracker and it has - it is a sunny and clear day here with blue skies.  Ideal for all the work we are doing - which includes breaking in another group of our yearlings as well as handling all of our weanlings, having their feet trimmed etc - Gareth our resident farrier is here today and has a full day ahead of him.

Of course cold and wet days are even more tough for our Te Akau Racing crew who swing into action at the stable every morning at 4am!  We have the best team of people we have ever had working for us and they dedicate so much to the care of our horses, they are truly passionate about them.

It was really special yesterday for Mark, Karyn, Julia Rose and me to head across to our Matamata stable to have a catch up with all our staff.  We enjoyed chatting and hearing and sharing all the news over a lunch together at the racecourse.

We then inspected all the horses and our daughter Julia Rose got some great shots which we will share with you soon - she has also almost completed a video of our Singapore tour and I am sure you will enjoy seeing those highlights too - watch this space!

On Saturday Mark and I travel to the Gold Coast Sale with Jamie Richards also joining us - we have been studying the catalogue closely and it will be interesting to see how the sale goes as the weanling and broodmare sales this past week have seen some big prices. I will be aiming to buy another Princess Coup, Costa Viva, Tell A Tale (all Group 1 winners) or Integrate or Minstrel Court (Group 1 performers) - all of whom I have bought from this sale.