Te Akau Tuesday Update
Date: 19 Mar 2024
David writes:
It has been yet another busy week for the team at Te Akau Racing.
Last Thursday Karyn was one of the guest speakers at the Victoria Racing Club members' night and from all accounts, she did a fantastic job chatting about her life and also our new Cranbourne stable, and of course our horses racing in Australia.
Te Akau's Australian stable is flying - Mark and our assistant trainer Ben Gleeson and the team have an outstanding strike rate and this Saturday we have six runners at Moonee Valley. The stable will be represented by: Imperatriz, Campionessa, Quintessa and Certainly in Group races, while Prismatic and Mehzebeen take on Rating 84 and 78 races respectively.
Karyn and I will both be at Moonee Valley on Saturday as it is such an exciting day for the stable - we will have a lot of fun as quite a number of the owners of these horses are heading over.
Last Saturday we had a great day at Tauranga, with Mark and Sam training four consecutive winners and on Sunday winning another race at Wingatui. Like Matamata and Cranbourne, our South Island stable is proving very successful and we have a very happy group of horses based there, where Hunter and the southern crew are doing a great job.
As you can see below – we have now won 18 black type races in New Zealand already this season and another seven in Australia with Imperatriz winning five black type races this season - four at Group 1 level: the Moir, the Manikato, the Champions' Sprint and the Black Caviar Lighting, as well as the Group 2 McEwan Stakes, and of course being runner up in last weekend's Group 1 Newmarket Hcp.
Campionessa also snared her well-deserved Australian Group 2 title at Flemington recently, beating two Melbourne Cup winners in the process and of course Skew Wiff claimed Group 3 honours on Melbourne Cup day.
So overall, a total of 25 black type races won this season to date.
Results like this can only be achieved by having simply fantastic people involved, and Te Akau has an unbelievable team - talented, dedicated, hard working, passionate - they live for bringing out the very best in every horse. Karyn and I are really proud of the whole team on both sides of the Tasman!
Over the last week we have had another 57mls of rain at the farm at Te Akau.
I am certain I have never seen the farm looking better in March – the grass is really taking off and the stock is absolutely thriving! I estimate that the steers are putting on 1.75kgs of weight a day which is fantastic.
We have 700 wether lambs left to sell which were shorn and drenched last week, and I think they will be ready to go to the works in five weeks’ time.
Since the Ready to Run sale three months ago, we have bought over 50 horses and the shares are still selling really well every day. I am really thrilled with how much our existing owners are re-investing and we are welcoming record numbers of new owners too. I am sure this is because of the results that the stable is delivering both here and in Australia, where the interest in Te Akau, and bring part of it all, is quite incredible.
Today I really want to recommend a filly to you - Lot 44 – A King’s Legacy filly out of High Chaparral mare Enjay. She’s a beautiful filly from a family that has left top females and is by an exciting young sire that stands at the one of the top farms in the world.
Her dam is a half sister to dual Group winner Rolling Pin who was a top line competitor in big races such as the Group 1 Epsom Hcp and Ell Aged Stakes, placing in both.
This filly is being broken in at the moment and the feedback I am getting is that she is one the best movers the breaker has seen in some time.
To my eye she looks a real Karaka Millions' filly so if you want to be involved in winning a Karaka Millions with a really nice filly that can go on and race in the following year potentially in the NZB Kiwi slot race. Remember Te Akau has its own slot which we are very excited about!
It will be a life changing experience winning these races and this is one filly that I can personally recommended.
A 20% share would cost $46,400
A 10% share would cost $23,200
A 5% share would cost $11,600
If you are interested in any of our cracking selection of horses, please always feel free to call me directly on 021 925 151 or email Karyn at [email protected] and we will be happy to tell you about the particular horse, how we operate here at Te Akau Racing and what it takes to be involved.
I talked above about winning big races with horses and how it can be a life changing experience. People sometimes ask 'how is it life changing'? and I say I have numerous examples of this, and I will share a couple today:
We had a couple that took a share in Belle En Rouge and they decided that they would put her winnings and any funds from her sale into an education fund for their granddaughter. When this mare retired and was sold, their the education fund stood at over $100,000 - they had paid about $3,000 for their share.
Another example is Imperatriz, one of her owners told us that she has changed his life because she has paid off his mortgage.
So yes, racing horses can indeed be a life changing experience indeed.
It is a great time to be a part of our exciting industry!
Best of luck to our owners with runners this weekend at Tauranga and Riccarton and course, The Valley!!