Te Akau Thursday Update

David writes:

The week seems to have disappeared really quickly and probably because everyone has been so busy at the stable and on the farm.

Undoubtedly the highlights of last weekend were both off shore with our Te Akau Racing teams in Australia and in Singapore.

Let's start in date order and Brisbane was the scene of a really wonderful success for one of our new clients Dr Phillip Mak.  Earlier this year Dr Mak asked me to source a horse for him to race in Hong Kong.  Shocking Luck was already in the stable, entrusted to us to train by his breeders Grant Currie and the Terry Archer Trust.  He had finished a very good second in the Group 2 Waikato Guineas in February and I thought he was an ideal candidate to target the Hong Derby as a four year old for Dr Mak and so he changed hands.

Being the astute veterinarian that he himself is, Dr Mak spelled Shocking Luck and bypassed the New Zealand Derby as I felt it would come up a little too quickly for him.  This horse is a very good developing stayer and for the horse, it was the best decision.  I always had the Group 1 Queensland Derby in my mind for this son of Shocking and together with our trainers Stephen and Jamie, a path was mapped out with that end target in mind.

The first part of the plan was his fresh up second placing on the tricky Ipswich track - he went down by the narrowest of margins over a distance well short of his best.  Then last Saturday he lined up in a very strong A$125,000 Group 3 Rough Habit Plate - a race I won previously with a horse I bred and raced called Distinctly Secret - and Shocking Luck blitzed the field by 2.5 lengths.  With Opie Bosson riding a 12 out of 10 race from the wide barrier, it was a dominant win that has thrust this horse right into favour for the Derby on 10 June.

Well done to Dr Mak - we are thrilled to win your first Group race for you - you have an exciting horse.

The Group 3 Rough Habit Plate was our second Group win in Australia for the season, following on from Gingernuts' stunning victory in the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas.  In fact every horse that we have started so far in Brisbane has weighed in and we are keenly awaiting Splurge stepping out on Saturday in Doomben - he meets a very good field for the A$125,000 Group 3 BRC Sprint over 1350m, where he has drawn nine of 16 and it will be great to see him back in action.  Opie Bosson will be back in Brisbane to ride the horse we know as "Phelps".  Splurge is a very exciting son of Savabeel that I purchased from the draft of Waikato Stud at the Karaka Premier Sale - he has now won seven of his 11 starts and twice been runner-up.  I know quite a few of his owners are heading over to Brisbane so good luck everyone.

The weekend also provided another huge highlight with Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker hitting 400 wins in his Singapore career - with the Craig and Pip Forsyth owned Awatere appropriately being the winner to bring up this milestone. Mark has brought this tally up very quickly, having only been in Singapore since the end of the 2010 season so this is a massive achievement.  Mark celebrated in style as Awatere became the first of three winners for Mark and the team on Sunday - so a wonderful accomplishment that sees Mark remain on top of the Trainers' Premiership in Singapore.

Mark is now closing in on 1300 career training successes.  We are very proud of him.

In New Zealand, Te Akau remains the leading stable for prize money won in New Zealand.  Racing here at this time of year becomes a bit quieter for our team as the tracks get heavier and many of our horses are spelling or just starting to return to the stable to prepare for Spring racing.  One of interest to many people is of course our trans-Tasman Group 1 winner Gingernuts - you will have read that his owners turned down a big offer for "Jerry", opting instead to enjoy their horse and his future racing.

I wish them all the very best as they are true champions these folks - they love their horse and just throw themselves in to racing with huge enthusiasm.  They are very well known for their "G-nuts" caps and really have brought so much fun to the whole season. No-one knows what the new season will bring but they are determined to enjoy the ride - and I think this is also very good for New Zealand racing - I know we are thrilled that he remains in the stable and all going well, Melbourne here we come.

Our daughter Julia-Rose put together a video of Gingernuts' success - starting with him at the Ready to Run Sale through to winning the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas - it's on our "videos" page so be sure to enjoy it!  It's called "Gingernuts - the ride so far".

At the Karaka sale last week I bought a weanling by Burgundy and it was incredible how quickly this filly sold - she was gone in four minutes and by the end, we had confirmed "orders" for 950% of her - incredible the interest in her.  She's a lovely young filly but I think that also has a lot ot do with Burgundy, he really is a sire on fire and I still maintain he was the fastest horse Te Akau has trained.

It's a fairly nasty day here at the farm weather wise - we have just sent eight horses back in to the stable including Beaumarchais and he blew me away with the way he has spelled - he just looks in magnificent order.  He of course was fourth in Gingernuts' NZ Derby and narrowly missed taking out the Group 3 Manawatu Classic at Awapuni at his final start last preparation.  It was a stellar performance behind the winner when you consider the stipes' report confirmed how much bad luck he had:  "began awkwardly then crowded and steadied losing ground, crowded passing 1800m then commenced to over-race for a distance when having to be restrained to avoid heels, steadied when becoming awkwardly placed inside heels 800m".

Tonight Karyn and I are attending the Waikato Hospice Charity Dinner in Hamilton - it is really important to support the hospice as it does such a valuable job in caring for so many people and their familiies who are going through the very worst of times.

Then on Saturday we will be at Te Rapa for its big Waikato Hurdles and Steeples' Day from where we will cheer Splurge on.  Also the Te Rapa meeting is officially Neil Treweek's final meeting as track manager.  Neil has been a huge part of the success of the Te Rapa track for over two decades and I worked very closely with him as Club Chairman when we installed the new sand slit track - I wish him very well in his retirement.

Hope you have a great weekend ahead - and go the tangerine!