Te Akau Thursday Update

David writes:

It has been another great week at Te Akau Racing - with two wins at Te Rapa yesterday and a really good second placing by a young 2YO Exceed and Excel colt I purchased from the Gold Coast last year now called Cousteau (appropriate given his dam is Maritime).

I was thrilled for the owners of Savabeel mare Grazia, our first winner at Te Rapa.  Her connections have been so patient with her and of course not only was this the first day of the new minimum $10,000 stakes - meaning increased prizemoney for first place (and all other placings) - but we always register our fillies from the sale for the lucrative NZB Pearl Bonus Series - so she collected a $10,000 bonus on top of her prizemoney as well for her owners!  She is a full sister to Shillelagh so we hold her in good regard.

The owners of our second winner Wide Awake have also shown patience with this talented Savabeel 3YO gelding.  He did race a little erratically in the straight and, as a result, had to withstand an inquiry.  He held the race but unfortunately Opie Bosson, our stable jockey, copped a seven day suspension.

Opie thought there was plenty more in store for both of these horses next season.  In racing you have to be patient and when you have the best trainers in the business, it's only a matter of time before the results come.

It's been great having Mark Walker to stay at Te Akau Stud and today he went back to Singapore. It was interesting whilst he was here, as each morning he went out to see every yearling we bought at the Karaka and Gold Coast Sales and he is adamant that we have the best group of young horses ever assembled at Te Akau Stud.  

There are still some shares available in our beautiful yearlings. For example, there is one share left in an O'Reilly filly (Lot 21) that is world class and a stunning O'Reilly colt (Lot 465). I can see these two horses being in both of the $1 million dollar races at Ellerslie in the next two seasons. 

Today Julia-Rose has been out on the farm taking photos of our horses spelling at the moment. You will see she has taken some nice shots below of the farm that we thought you would like to see. Yesterday she was lucky to get up in a helicopter and take some aerial photos which shows how green the farm is at this time of year.

Our full attention now turns to Derby Day this Saturday at Ellerslie where Te Akau Racing has two great chances in the $1 million Group 1 NZ Derby with Beaumarchais and Gingernuts. Below, enjoy a preview of Gingernuts from Trackside. 

Good luck to everybody this weekend at Ellerslie and we wish the Auckland Racing Club a successful first weekend of Auckland Cup Week. 

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