Te Akau Thursday Update

David writes:

It is certainly good to be able to travel again! I have just spent the last ten days on the Gold Coast to watch Melody Belle go through the sale ring and to purchase several yearlings for our stable at the Magic Millions' sale.

It was so hard to see such a beautiful horse sell.  I tried to purchase her myself so Karyn and I to keep her for the New Zealand industry.  We wanted to offer her to our Te Akau owners and give them the opportunity of coming into a mare of her quality. My budget was $2 million and I was unfortunately outbid by Yulong Stud.

Congratulations to Sam Fairgray, the General Manager of Yulong Stud, and all those who are involved with the purchase Melody Belle. We wish everyone the best of luck with this amazing mare.

The thing I most love about Melody Belle is that this mare does not have a bad bone in her body. She was the soundest horse that we have probably ever trained - vets would go broke if every horse was as easy as her!  She was such a pleasure to do anything with. She loved people and just loved being fed. It was the highlight of the year having her spell at Te Akau Stud.

We would like to congratulate John Galvin on managing the horse so well, and of course she was beautifully trained by Jamie Richards who did quite an incredible job with our team.

I would also like to congratulate all the staff who have worked with Melody Belle and cared for her throughout her entire career.  We know how each and every one of you has invested so much effort, love and dedication into this amazing mare, in both Australia and New Zealand. It truly is a team effort, and the hard work has paid off with her achievements over the years. We really do have a remarkable team at Matamata!

Speaking of team, Ashley Handley, who has done an outstanding job of caring for our horses while they were in Australia, has since returned home to New Zealand. It is great to have her back at Matamata and on home soil - we are very lucky to have her in our team. Ashley will be heading back to Melbourne in a couple of months with four or five of horses for the Spring Carnival.

Overall, the Magic Millions' sale was a huge success, although the pass-in rate of the yearlings was quite high. In my opinion that was because the vendors had unrealistic reserves but I do believe that the quality of horses at this sale was the best that I have seen for many, many years.

Te Akau Racing purchased two colts and two fillies. They will come home to the stud next week where they will start being broken in straight away.

The two fillies we purchased have beautiful pedigrees, with one by Vancouver  and one by Heroic Valour (for Fortuna).  Our Vancouver filly is a ripper and she is almost all sold - see her below - she was a steal so anyone can get involved with her!

The two colts that we purchased were by Zoustar and So You Think. The Zoustar colt, out of Mumtaazah, sold within the first hour of us purchasing him.

I'm very surprised that there are still shares available in the So You Think colt - he is a real belter of a yearling. I believe that he is going to be a 2000 Guineas or Derby colt for sure and one of the nicest colts that I have purchased this year.

There are only a couple of shares left in him and as I have said before, do not delay in getting in contact with us if you are interested in coming into this cracking colt. I can tell you now - hesitation only leads to disappointment!  Just see him below, he is a stand-out!

The racing industry in Australia is absolutely on fire. It is interesting that the clubs are reporting that they are getting more demand for young people to join as members than they ever had.

The attendance at the races is larger than is has been for some time and the betting turnover right across the board is very strong. Last week it was announced that stake money in Melbourne has had a $20 million increase and I have been reliably informed that the stake money in Sydney will also increase.  Obviously Te Akau will be looking to snare a share of this prize money for our owners again in the new season ahead.

It was interesting to note that all the trainers that I spoke to at the Gold Coast agreed that the biggest problem in Australian racing at the moment is getting staff that want to get up early and work with the horses. It is apparently becoming a real issue.

We are very lucky at Te Akau Racing that we have the best team that we have ever had, including several young people who have huge potential and I have no doubt that they will go on to become good trainers in their own right.

Jamie Richards came home from the Gold Coast on Tuesday morning and spent Wednesday inspecting all the horses who have returned to the stable after spelling at Te Akau Stud. He is very impressed with how our horses have spelled - they have returned in fantastic order. Almost every one of our yearlings that we purchased at the Karaka Sale have been broken in and are working extremely well.  This time of the year is the best time to educate these young horses, as well as caring for, and giving that extra attention to, our older horses to ready them for the upcoming season.

Te Akau Racing had its first win on the Cambridge all-weather track yesterday with Tauparae, a Savabeel filly that is owned by Christopher Grace QSM and his wife Susanna. They are renowned for breeding excellent horses and are an asset to both the farming and racing industries - their knowledge across both sectors is just incredible. Christopher and Susanna are also both wonderful supporters of Te Akau Racing. We really appreciate people like them who entrust their beautiful horses to us to train.

Yesterday's win was our 157^th for the season, which is an amazing feat for our team and our owners. And the season isn't over just yet!

While in the Gold Coast, Jamie and I had a good discussion about which horses we will take down to the South Island for the annual Cup Carnival. It is great that Riccarton now has an all-weather track which is due to be open in August. We will certainly be targeting the Group races that they have in the south leading in to and during Cup Week and we have some very exciting horses for the Group 1 NZ 1000 and the 2000 Guineas races - watch this space!

As I came home from the Gold Coast last night, I have to say, it was very eerie walking through Auckland International Airport. It was bare - a ghost town.

I do have one complaint however - you would think that over the past year, Air New Zealand would have taken advantage of the extra time on the ground and installed wifi across all its fleet.

It is so frustrating when you are trying to run a business and are told by the booking agent that there will be wifi available on your flight, only to have the cabin crew tell you it is not available on this particular plane.

It is not fair to have people inaccessible to their businesses for over five hours. Air New Zealand - you seriously need to sort the wifi service out on your planes, please - especially if you are to be a truly competitive airline.

The first thing I did this morning as soon as daylight struck was to go around the farm with the manager Luke Copeland. What a great job he has done at looking after everything while I have been away. As we are now entering the first official week of winter, I could see that we have plenty of grass for our stock, which are just thriving. We sent the tail end steers to Greenlea on Monday, and they killed out at 333.3kg, making them worth $1800 each. For the tail end that is pretty exciting!

In the last six months we have been very lucky to have our daughter Lydia home from England.  She and her husband Jamie have been working on the farm. Jamie has been doing a lot of tractor work while Lydia (below right on Gingernuts) has been helping out with the breakers by riding the lead pony.

Stephanie Hyde-Richards and her team have done an incredible job at breaking in these young horses and I am very proud of her. We are very lucky to have such efficient and dedicated team on the farm, led by Deane Lowcay. Everything has run like clockwork since I have been away. To all the team at Te Akau Stud, a very big thank you!