Te Akau Thursday Update

David writes:

What a wonderful experience it was to attend Government House in Wellington on Tuesday. It was for my official Royal Honour investiture ceremony conducted by the Queen's representative in New Zealand, the Governor General, Her Excellency the Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy.

It was quite humbling to be recognised with the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM), with other recipients who invest so much time and energy and passion into their organisations, communities and nation - many also honoured for serving on the world stage too.

After each person received their award, the Governor General and her husband Sir David Gascoigne then had a personal conversation with each recipient and their family in a private room. I was reminded by Dame Patsy Reddy that she was born in the Waikato and moved to Te Akau when she was 10 days old - her father was the local school teacher. She knew as much about Te Akau as I did! It was a very moving afternoon and after we left Government House we went to the famous Boulcott Street Bistro for a night of celebration with my family. Karyn and I left sometime after 2.30am, which isn't a bad effort!

If you want to have a really good dinner in Wellington, you cannot go past this establishment - the cuisine and service is just outstanding. Thanks to John and the team!

The next morning I was back to the farm while Karyn had a day full of meetings for New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing in Wellington and she arrived home close to midnight!

At 6am this morning, we sent the first load of steers off Te Akau Stud to the works and our stock agent Alan Radford is busy drafting our first lot of lambs from the 5YO ewes today. They will go to the works early next week. They will have to be the best lambs that I have sent away for many years, reflecting the nice warm spring that we have had. Lambs love sunshine and warmth and we have had plenty of that here on the farm.

I got a big thrill out of winning another two of races at Te Aroha yesterday. Brando, who I purchased at the Ready to Run sale last year, won his second start after finishing runner up at his debut several weeks ago.

Perfect Scenario also stepped up from his maiden win to R65 company with aplomb - it's not easy for a horse to do that and he did it in style. He is an Iffraaj gelding out of the good mare Rosetti Bay who I purchased at the Karaka Yearling Sale. I thought his second win from only two starts this season, with a fair bit in hand too, was very good indeed.

It was interesting that Brando was bred by Fairdale Stud and last year, they had two Savabeel colts and a Proisir filly in the Premier Sale. The first one that went through the ring was Cool Aza Beel who I purchased for $150,000. The next horse to go through the ring was the filly, and she was passed in. However, I purchased her the next day for $37,500. Brando was the passed in, and Fairdale Stud chose to enter him in the Ready to Run Sale, which is where I purchased him from. All three horses that Fairdale Stud had in the Premier Sale were purchased by Te Akau Stud.

We followed up this winning double today with a dominant win by Supreme Khan at Ashburton - Paul Richards and the team looking after our southern contingent are doing a really top job and this son of Mongolian Khan is now two starts for two wins and he looks to have an exciting future.

With our two wins yesterday and one today, our trainer Jamie Richards has reached 43 wins for the season which is an incredible statistic when you realise that we are still in October and the season is only three months old. What a great team effort!

There are a big few days of racing coming up and we are all
looking forward to Melbourne Cup Day.

Saturday's racing in Flemington is one of the best days racing on the calendar. I have been to 27 Melbourne Cup Carnivals in a row over the last 35 years and just loved Derby Day.

Good luck to all our owners and runners over the weekend and into Cup Week. Go the Tangerine!

Back