Te Akau Thursday Update
15 March, 2018
David writes:
This year has easily been the most interesting I have ever had in my farming career.
I purchased my first farm in 1979 - we have never had so much grass in that time as we now have at Te Akau Stud and, in most cases, it is excellent quality. We went from October with the wettest winter ever behind us, to a summer drought in just three weeks - we literally missed Spring.
Although we reserved the normal area for haylage, we only bailed half of what we did last season. By November it was very dry and I was quite concerned because normally January and February are our driest months so we had the potential, in my mind, for a very serious situation. However then Mother Nature came to the rescue and we haven't stopped getting good rain since. It's been an incredible season - on Monday night for example we had 8mls of rain and 5mls on Tuesday night - the farm just looks pristine.
We are just beginning to break in our yearlings. We are breaking in 12 currently at the farm and today we have sent another 12 to Matamata to be broken in. It is an incredibly exciting time of the year when you see them being ridden out for the first time. Most horses just love to please and their early education is such a vital stage of their careers, so we oversee this very carefully, as you would expect.
The team here at Te Akau Stud has been flat stick this week with lots of demands on their time. We are sending 70 cattle a day to Greenlea to be processed; the all-weather airstrip I put in is going flat out with lime and super phosphate being applied plus we are in the finishing stages of a big fencing programme. Yes, it's all go for certain - and we have also finished weaning all our foals.
Karyn is representing the team at Trentham on Saturday and she will be joined by our future son-in-law and new Dad Hamish Hayes, Julia-Rose's partner and father to our new grandchild Lucia-Rose. We have had no luck with our draws which makes the task on such a big race day very difficult. We have three runners - Swing Note lines up in the Group 1 NZ Oaks, Heroic Valour takes his place in the race we are sponsoring, the Group 3 Te Akau Racing Lightning Stakes and Paulownia, a very impressive debut winner, is set for the Group 2 Wellington Guineas.
I really enjoyed the Auckland Racing Club's Cup Carnival. I thought the quality of racing was great and of course, I am still excited about another Group 1 Te Akau quinella. Both of our two year olds have come through the races in great shape and will both head towards the Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes, the only other New Zealand 2YO Group 1 race, at Awapuni later this month.
Saturday's Group 1 win was Te Akau's 14th black type win for the season - that is more than any other stable this season - and we have now won over $3 million in prizemoney this season for our owners. To illustrate the amazing season we have had thus far - here is the latest Trainers' Premiership table as at today:
| Trainer | Wins | 2nds | 3rds | Stakes | Starts | G&L | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman | 86 | 67 | 67 | $3,187,553 | 516 | 11 | 6 |
2 | Stephen Autridge & Jamie Richards | 56 | 57 | 52 | $3,148,112 | 344 | 14 | 6.14 |
| 3 | Michael & Matthew Pitman | 50 | 46 | 38 | $1,345,324 | 323 | 5 | 6.46 |
| 4 | Stephen Marsh | 42 | 31 | 28 | $801,970 | 311 | 2 | 7.4 |
| 5 | Kevin Myers | 41 | 27 | 41 | $741,461 | 330 | 0 | 8.05 |
| 6 | Tony Pike | 36 | 36 | 35 | $993,185 | 266 | 4 | 7.39 |
| 7 | Donna Logan & Chris Gibbs | 33 | 26 | 27 | $833,490 | 222 | 1 | 6.73 |
| 8 | Lisa Latta | 30 | 38 | 37 | $1,216,799 | 318 | 8 | 10.6 |
| 9 | Shaune Ritchie | 28 | 19 | 13 | $653,707 | 171 | 3 | 6.11 |
| 10 | Graeme & Debbie Rogerson | 26 | 35 | 36 | $564,490 | 357 | 1 | 13.73 |
| 11 | John & Karen Parsons | 25 | 22 | 18 | $459,270 | 230 | 2 | 9.2 |
| 12 | Lance O'Sullivan & Andrew Scott | 25 | 14 | 15 | $527,405 | 172 | 2 | 6.88 |
| 13 | Fraser Auret | 24 | 15 | 9 | $526,885 | 97 | 3 | 4.04 |
| 14 | Graham Richardson & Gavin Parker | 23 | 18 | 13 | $718,475 | 179 | 3 | 7.78 |
| 15 | Team Rogerson | 22 | 25 | 15 | $431,005 | 198 | 1 | 9 |
GINGERNUTS
Group 1 Windsor Park Plate & runner up Group 1 Livamol Classic
SWORD OF OSMAN
Group 1 Sistema Stakes & Group 3 Matamata Slipper
EMBELLISH
Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas & runner up Listed Karaka 3YO Million
AGE OF FIRE
Group 1 Levin Classic & runner up Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas
AVANTAGE
Listed Karaka Million & runner up Group 1 Sistema Stakes
SPLURGE
Group 2 Manawatu Challenge Stakes
ROYAL SUCCESS
Group 3 J Swap Open Sprint
CHANCE TO DANCE
Group 3 OMF Stakes & Listed Karaka Classic
MELODY BELLE
Group 3 Mongolian Khan Stakes
GRAZIA
Listed Spring Classic
AL HASA
Listed Welcome Stakes
CHAMBORD
Listed Levin Stakes
So already this season - 4 GROUP 1's, 1 GROUP 2, 4 GROUP 3's and 5 LISTED RACES
So congratulations to all of our hard-working team because these results are not easy to achieve! At Matamata yesterday, speaking of achievements, the team was on fire again with three straight wins - Handsome Rebel, Devil May Care and Pacific Coast (who was ridden by former two-time Singapore Champion Apprentice Shafiq Rusof who was also formerly our New Zealand apprentice). "Suppy" as he is known, is a truly great horseman, a very good judge and a really top big race rider. He will be a huge asset to the New Zealand riding ranks and already other stables are engaging him.
NOW - here is a story - and a true one for you!!
Literally TWO OF THE LAST THREE yearlings to sell last year were - Group 1 and Group 3 winner Sword of Osman and Karaka Million winner and Group 1 runner up Avantage.
The final yearling to sell this year is a stunning Pins colt and he is out of an outstanding family, his dam being Thee Achiever. Just think of horses like dual Group 1 winner The Jewel (who also won at Group level in Australia), Group 1 winner La Diosa, and group and Listed winners The Solitaire, The Diamond One, The Grin, Star Affair, Solid Billing, The One - and many more - these outstanding race horses are ALL closely related to our stunning boy.
I just love this colt and have encouraged a couple of my best mates to take shares in him. I think I can win a major race with this colt and he is about to head to Matamata to be broken in! He looks in magnificent shape.
There are now ONLY TWO SHARES available in ths colt who we know as "Archie" so if you want to race a very well-bred colt by a sire who has already had 75 stakes' winners of races such as a WS Cox Plate then this could well be your colt. Remember Pins has twice been the Leading New Zealand Sire for Worldwide Earnings!
Here is a link to his details and a video of him:
https://teakauracing.com/product/karaka-18-lot-648-pins-aus-thee-achiever-baybrown-colt/
A 10% share is only $10,800 +GST and a 5% share is just $5,400 +GST - including sale expenses at cost and all veterinary and xray inspections.
It's quite incredible the interest in Gingernuts wherever Karyn and I go people ask us about him. It's great news that he is home safe and sound and he is just loving his good spell ... he is such a happy horse and is very interested in everything that happens at Te Akau Stud. He loves watching the young horses being broken in. We will spell him for another two months then we will make a decision on his future but one thing I promise you is this, he will have the best paddock at Te Akau Stud for the rest of his life!