Te Akau Tuesday Update

David writes:

We enjoyed another terrific weekend at Te Akau Racing with four wins across our trans-Tasman stables in 24 hours - three in New Zealand, including a stakes' win, and a stable quinella in Victoria!

The first of the winning quartet came at Ellerslie when War of Succession showed plenty of determination to record his second career win in seven starts.  A slower maturing son of Tavistock, he was well ridden by Vinnie Colgan to score narrowly but in a determined fashion.

It might have been a day of narrow margins but it they were winning ones, and Celestial Wonder was no exception, showing huge heart to claim victory on the line at Ellerslie by a long head.  A 3YO daughter of Xtravagant, she was bred at Te Akau Stud and syndicated amongst our owners.  She's showing a lot of promise with two wins and three seconds from six starts.

If you thought that margin was close, the blanket finish at Trentham in the Listed James Bull Rangitikei Cup was one of the narrowest you will likely see all season.  Fortunately our brave mare Francee just had her nose in front and secured her valuable black type win for her owners Haunui Farm - in doing so, she became our 18th NZ stakes' winner for the season.

It was wonderful too, to see recently arrived Brazilian jockey Bruno Queiroz record his first New Zealand stakes' win aboard Francee.  Bruno has not long been in New Zealand and rode winners for our stable in Singapore, so it's terrific to see him off to a flying start!

The Cup win was particularly meaningful for me personally for two reasons - I worked alongside the late Jim Bull for many years in racing administration, we served together on the New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Board (NZTR), or NZ Racing Conference as it was known then. Jim was a real icon of the Central Districts and beyond, a man who loved his racing, and contributed so much to our industry. To win a race named in his honour is indeed a real privilege.

The win also held significance as Francee was bred and is raced by our long-time friends at Haunui Farm. We were thrilled to deliver this stakes' win for the Chitty family, who we’ve known and respected for many years. Mark Chitty, in particular, is one of New Zealand’s most capable and committed racing administrators. He’s doing an outstanding job and, in my opinion, is exactly the sort of leader we need at the NZTR board table. We’d love to see him help steer the future of New Zealand racing - he has the vision and the experience to really make a difference.

Turning our attention to our Australian stable and Mark, Ben and the team have done a wonderful job with our jumping team - it was a proud moment to see The Mighty Spar and Prismatic quinella the A$80,000 Two Rivers Steeplechase as well on the weekend at Casterton in Victoria - they flew the live fences, loving their work.  Both are incidentally sons of Savabeel and both have bright staying futures ahead of them. 

While Te Akau sometimes is identified with sprinters and milers, it's important to remember that we have had many top staying successes recently too - races such the New Zealand Cup and the Metropolitan this season; the Wellington Cup, and The Metropolitan in Sydney.  Leaderboard’s win at Warrnambool was another highlight too!  

Looking closer to home at the farm, we had 5ml of rain last night - not a huge amount, but enough to keep the grass growing well. It’s been a very productive season and the land’s in great heart.

In last week’s update, I mentioned some of the incredible people who have been part of our journey, and in coming weeks I want to highlight more of these special people. 

This week we sent off the last two units of steers to Greenlea. That may seem like just another farm job, but it’s the end of a seasonal cycle I’ve been doing with one of the most capable people I’ve ever worked with: Alan Radford.

Alan has been buying and selling all of my sheep and cattle since 1979. That’s over 45 years of trusted advice and a rock-solid partnership. His knowledge and experience is second to none.

Another man who has been with me since 1979 is local builder George Brown. George is now in his mid-eighties, and still going very strong. Right now, he’s working his way around the farm, replacing every gate that needs attention. He’s meticulous, reliable, and just a brilliant bloke. George’s wife Diane is the doyenne of the district - she can turn her hand to anything, and has been such an asset to the community for decades in many leadership and voluntary roles. 

Diane actually was my first ever secretary - she came to my office for three hours a week, typing out monthly accounts and correspondence on an old manual typewriter - imagine that today! That was the very start of our administration operation! 

It’s memories like these that really remind me how lucky I’ve been to work alongside such top-quality people throughout my life and career.

Looking ahead, we don’t usually have a big racing presence through the winter months, but we do have a few nice chances coming up. Our sights are firmly set on reaching $9 million in stakes for our owners in New Zealand this season — we’re just $150,000 shy of that now, and the team is absolutely focused on getting there for our ownership family.

As always, thank you to all our wonderful owners and friends for your support — and best of luck to those with runners this week.

GO THE TANGERINE!