Te Akau Tuesday Update

14 January, 2025

Te Akau Tuesday Update

David writes:

Karyn, the team and I have now returned from the Gold Coast and I have been working at the farm since then. We had a fantastic week on the Gold Coast buying 21 yearlings in total – some of the best colts and fillies I have ever seen.

We were delighted to secure such outstanding, quality yearlings across a price range from A$30,000 - $650,000 so there really is a share for everyone. I finished buying yesterday when snapping up a smart Cool Aza Beel yearling for A$50,000 and the interest in him has also been high.

If you are interested in knowing more about these young horses, and being involved with them, have a look at our 'Yearlings & Shares' page on our website because I think these horses will form part of a very exciting next 12 months for the team.

The sale overall represented very good buying. I felt the quality was outstanding and I thought the vendors were quite realistic with their reserves and expectations, meeting the market.

One thing that really blew me away was how the progeny of Sword of State and Noverre sold - they are obviously very highly regarded.

Two Noverre fillies selling for A$500,000 and A$410,000 was an incredible result for the first season sire. Sword of State yearlings sold for up to A$380,000 which also is a terrific start for him.

Both Noverre and Sword of State were purchased by me as yearlings - Sword of State from this very Magic Millions' sale too. They both went on to win Group 1 races, with Sword of State also crowned Champion 2YO of his year. Well done to Waikato and Cambridge Studs, the future of these sires certainly looks very bright.

This morning, we welcomed top Australian jockey Blake Shinn to Matamata for some early trackwork with our two year olds and more experienced racehorses. It’s a great relationship that has been forged and Blake’s world-class skill and experience were on full display as he got a feel for our exciting young prospects and polished performers.

It’s always a privilege to have Blake in the saddle - his attention to detail, feedback and connection with the horses are second to none. Blake also stepped out for us at the trials today, making it a busy and productive day!

A true professional, Blake continues to strengthen his bond with the Te Akau team, and we’re thrilled to have him here leading into the summer of racing, with the TAB Karaka Millions just around the corner.

Today we have four of our Stud team travelling to the Matamata trials to assist our stable team on a hugely busy day at the trials. We have 20 two year olds trialling and another 20 horses all together so another great day.

Marcus Corban and I are back in to inspecting Karaka yearlings this week. On Tuesday we are starting at Wentwood Grange, then we head to Cambridge Stud fronts significant draft. On Wednesday we are looking at yearlings at Rich Hill and Waikato Stud, where again there is a large number of yearlings to see. Then on Thursday we check out the yearlings at Carlaw Park, Windsor Park and Curraghmore. So there is really no rest after the sale on the Gold Coast, the momentum rolls on but we love this time of the year.

If you are interested in being involved in a yearling from the Gold Coast, please feel free to give me a call on 021 925 151 or if you want to discuss your Karaka plans

At the farm, the weather on the farm has been very dry and windy - I have been quite amazed at how the farm has dried off in the ten days that I was in the Gold Coast but it's quite incredible how well the stock have done.

The cattle are still killing out well, and the sheep are all looking in terrific condition. We are drafting lambs on Wednesday, and we will have 500 that will go to Wilson Hellaby and we are sending three units of steers to Greenlea this week.

It was really exciting to see our Snitzel colt that we bought at Karaka for $200,000 make it two wins from two starts after a sublime performance at Ellerslie on Sunday. To Bravery Born was impressive when winning and is now on track to contest the $1 million Karaka 2YO Millions on 25 January - as we look to win our 8th 2YO Millions for our owners.

Tomorrow we will have a good team stepping out at Riccarton - so it's a busy week, but a great start to 2025!

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