Te Akau Tourist Update

Hello from Singapore - well what a 24 hours we have had - lots of fun, laughter, good food, good wine, good company and best of all - good racing experiences!

After a quiet start to Saturday (for some!) we gathered at 12.30pm to head off for our stable visit - stable 108A and leading trainer Mark Walker. Mark and Gus and the team were ready to meet us and in fact Mark managed to give us the tour of a lifetime around the whole track (and without leaving the bus)!

Everyone really enjoyed seeing the horses and giving them special pats, cuddles and attention in their air conditioned stables - we saw the horses that had raced the night previously coming back from their swim and being weighed and trotted up by Gus and the staff to assess how they had pulled up post race.

It is incredible to see how everything works like clockwork - such a credit to Mark when you consider when he arrived there was only the bare stable block - no equipment, not even a water bucket!  We will have plenty of photos to share over the next week (and a video or two thanks to our resident expert Julia-Rose).

Our horses all looked happy and in pristine condition and you can see how proud the staff are to be working for Mark.  It was wonderful too that Julia and their children Zavier and Alexis could spend the afternoon with us, Julia of course a very important part of our Singapore operation.  It was great to see all our local staff too, so committed to our horses.  You could just see the pride they took in being part of such a successful team and operation.

Zavier is a "mini Mark" - not only does he LOOK like his Dad, he almost TALKS like Dad too!  He knows every horse inside out, their form, their likes, their traits, their strengths - he can quote trial times, race times everything - talk about a "chip off the old block!  A real delight!

The ride around the whole of the Kranji track was a fascinating experience too as Mark explained everything from the turf to the poly, we saw the rails being moved, the fleet (and we mean FLEET) of tractors, the hill track - very interesting indeed.

We then descended on the Riding School and enjoyed refreshments and nibbles with Mark and Julia and the kiddies as well as Gus.  We could see children having their riding lessons as we relaxed and just chatted about everything and anything!

Then back on the bus, hotel bound and changed for dinner.  Ku De Ta is on the 57th floor and is the restaurant that looks like a canoe sitting aloft of a huge platform.  Well you MUST go there if you are in Singapore.

We dined out on the deck on a private table (with Mark and Julia joining us), enjoying some champagne together and taking in one of the most breathtaking sights you will ever experience - Singapore by night is absolutely stunning, the architecture so creative and attractive - it was a sight to behold.

Now some very wonderful friends (and you know who you are) in NZ texted after the last update and said "haha what goes on tour stays on tour" - well we are very much all behaving but there have been some very funny and hilarious times - like those 'clever clogs' that beat we 'final four' into the lift to go to the 57th floor (David in the 'clever clogs' lift, Karyn not).

However Karyn's quartet got to the restaurant and the 'clever clogs' took three trips up and down in their lift (we are told) as it turned out it didn't go to the restaurant unless you were a hotel guest - ha ha - needless to say Karyn's quartet pounced on a young German guest, asked him for his room card and struck the jackpot, going (almost) straight to the 57th floor.  Not competitive types at all are we!!!