Te Akau Tuesday Update

David writes:

Yesterday we hosted our annual North Island Owners' Day at our Matamata stable which was a huge success.  It was wonderful that on a Monday afternoon we welcomed over 150 Te Akau owners and it was really such a thrill for Karyn, for me and for our whole team to be able to spend time with everyone.  This followed on from our very successful owners' event in Christchurch earlier in the month and that too was also very well received.

After our owners inspected their horses in the stable, we enjoyed hospitality at the Matamata racecourse where we had drinks, nibbles and some good music.  In between times, we paraded two 2YO colts that I purchased 10 days ago at the Karaka Ready to Run Sale - and that we are currently selling shares in.

They were ridden by Dan Miller and Jasmine Fawcett and went once around on the course proper and did some three-quarter pace work up the straight.  There is only now 10% available in our I Am Invincible colt and gee he is a real 2YO and we will have him ready to trial in about six weeks.  He looks a real athlete and has so much class about him.  With only 10% now remaining in this popular colt, you can invest in him with confidence.

The other colt is an Ocean Park colt out of Queen Rania and he too has "Derby" stamped all over him. This colt has also really impressed our riders who have ridden him each morning - he looks stunning horse in the making.  he has a good deep girth and that is important for a racehorse as that is where the lungs and heart are and he has a terrific hind-quarters which is where the engine room is.  Only 20% is now available - if you want to be involved in either of these two horses, I could not recommend them more highly.

Both colts have really settled in beautifully at the stable and you would think they'd been there all their lives - relaxed, happy, eating well.  Do get in touch with Karyn [email protected] as we will be advertising these final shares in weekend newspapers so you will miss the boat if you don't!  Remember last year, both of the colts I bought at this sale?  You had the chance to be involved in those two - Hall of Fame has now won three races including a stakes' race and Gingernuts too has been a winner and is coming up brilliantly.

Monday was also a great opportunity for our owners to congratulate our senior staff on winning another Trainers' Premiership this year - and Stephen and Jamie also of course were also named Champion Trainers for last season too.  Such a wonderful achievement.

With the wet weather that we have had in the north in the last three months, our start to the season hasn't been as quick as usual but you will soon find that this is about to change.  This morning we had some outstanding trackwork at Matamata with two very good mares Echezeaux and Abidewithme working towards their Trentham engagements this weekend.  So too were Melody Belle and Smashing who are also heading down as is Royal Success who missed a start when Wanganui was abandoned last Saturday.  So four last start winners and Smashing.  Stephen and Jamie were more than happy with how the team worked today.  Xtravagant also did his second piece of three-quarter pace work and we are delighted with how he is coming to hand.  Our intention is to start him fresh up in the Group 1 Telegraph Handicap but he will more than likely have two trials or an exhibition gallop to prepare him for this. The good news is that the general consensus from our riders is that is he has never felt better and, together with our vet team, we feel he has come through his issues that dogged him in Melbourne.

I was thrilled to see yet another 2YO that I bought win at Te Rapa on Sunday - wasn't Gold Fever impressive?  She sat three wide in the lead and just killed them in the run up the straight.  I bought this filly to win 2YO races - some people said 'why would you buy a Savabeel filly to win 2YO races, they are slow maturing types?' - well I disagree I bought this filly especially to win the Group 2 Matamata Breeders' Stakes, a race in which Te Akau's win record is unrivalled.   Interestingly, a month after I bought her, her half-sister came out and won that very same race this year.  So the people who invested in her had a bonus before she even started racing.

Today we are on the farm and have been weighing cattle and it's just incredible how well the cattle have done in the past three months and next week we will be selling a unit of cattle each day until Christmas.  The price of beef at the moment is certainly not at record levels but is still reasonable, margin-wise.

Today I received my catalogue from New Zealand Bloodstock so each night for the next ten days I will be going through and analysing all of the pedigrees before I start my yearling inspections in earnest.  It certainly is a very exciting time of the year - hectic one I love.