Te Akau Tuesday Update
15 August, 2017
David writes:
At the moment I have never seen so much rain at the farm. I really respect the young people at this time of the year who push through and work with horses. It must be very tough getting up and working with horses in the cold, mud and rain.
Last night we had the Matamata Racing Club Awards night. It is such a great idea by the club and this is its fourth year of existence. It's lovely how it brings everyone together from Life Members of the Club to the staff from all the supporting stables.
We had a massive support crew there of most of our staff and it was a great celebration as we actually won five of the 12 awards - Trainers of the Year, Champion 3YO of the Year with Gingernuts, Champion 2YO of the Year with Melody Belle, Champion Owners of the Year for the "G'Nuts Army" and Champion Horse of the Year with Gingernuts. It's a thrill for the team getting this recognition as it can not be done without the team on the ground each morning making this happen.
We ere also proud that a number of these awards were back to back with last season's success e.g. Heroic Valour as last year's Champion 2yo with Xtravagant being named Champion 3YO and Champion Horse of the Year, his owners likewise winning Owner of the Year, and Steve and Jamie were also last year's Champion Trainers.
It's this time of the year I am really liking seeing the Rock 'n' Pop's and Burgundy's come up. This is the year to mate a mare to Rock 'n' Pop or Burgundy as if they have a good racing season, they will be standing at $20,000 - $30,000 next year.
I am really looking forward to sending a few mares to Xtravagant this year. I am going to make a trip to Newhaven Park and seeing how he is performing in the breeding barn in the spring before going to a day at Randwick.
Today I went to track work at Matamata to see the team in action and then I will meet up with Emily Murphy and the Trackside TV Kiwibred team who are coming to film Gingernuts - Jerry, as we know him, has a huge following, he's just so popular which is wonderful to see.
