Te Akau Tuesday Update

David writes:

Ellerslie, you have outdone yourself again. What a great day the Group 1 Vodafone NZ Derby Day was last Saturday. A massive congratulations to all the connections of Crown Prosecutor for a great win.

We were so proud too of both of our runners in the iconic race - In A Twinkling was so brave when only beaten in to second by the bob of a head - just as our runner last year, Mongolianconqueror.

Of course our 2017 Derby winner Gingernuts was back at the scene of his great victory and was honoured by leading the Derby field out - "Jerry" had one heck of a day and loved every minute of it, as did his owners who were able to be present.

This Saturday is shaping up as another vintage day at Ellerslie with three Group 1 races, and we are really looking forward to being a part of it. Again well done to ARC CEO Paul Wilcox and his Ellerslie team - further congratulations are also due for the presentation of such a great track.  

There is still a lot of discussion at present about track
closures. My position is quite clear. Firstly, we need to put a plan together
about where the best place is for the Government-funded, all-weather track.

Once that has been established, built and is working well, we can then as an industry talk about closing some tracks. But that will be at least another three to four years away. In the meantime, if we are going to have racing as we now know it (where each week, we have trials on Tuesday, and races on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday) we need every track we currently have. So please, do not even think about closing any tracks until an all-weather track is up and running.

What a great time of the year it is. Brilliant weather, brilliant racing but the most exciting thing for us at Te Akau Stud is seeing the magnificent yearlings we have bought being broken in. I believe we have really nailed it this year - across the board, they are the best type of young horses ever seen at Te Akau Stud. All the yearlings, 43 in total, have all been paid for and we still have shares available in several of these beautiful young horses.

It is quite incredible how several of the best horses over the last three years have been some of the last to sell. For example, In a Twinkling was the last to sell in his year, and he was only just beaten in the Derby over the weekend, as I mentioned. Others to sell slowly included Avantage, our Group 1 and Karaka Million winner last year and Champion 2YO of that season and Sword of Osman who is a Group 1 Group 2 and Group 3 winner!

This week we are selling shares in a Savabeel filly out of Stylee. This classy filly is from the same family as Xtravagant and would have future residual value. I love her pedigree, being by Savabeel out of a winning Pins mare, who is out of the top Centaine mare, Arletty. It's a magical cross.

There is so much natural speed in this family, and the mare Stylee has a Savabeel filly at foot. I could see this filly in the Karaka 2YO Million, and I thought we bought her really well, paying less than budget at $180,000. On an end note, there are only two shares left in her (Lot 441).

Another filly I am selling shares in is Lot 105 by Mongolian Khan out of Irish Jewel, who is by the same sire as Winx (Street Cry). My comments were “Good strong staying filly, excellent type, and will be the first winner by the sire”.

We bought this filly from Cambridge Stud for just $110,000 and there is only one share now available in her.

It is very dry on all the farms in the Waikato and Te Akau Stud is no different. But it is just amazing how well all the stock look. The horses are all hard fed twice a day and they just love the heat and dry weather. The yearlings all look amazing and I am thrilled at how they are thriving. We are now beginning their early education - an exciting time indeed!

We are looking forward to seeing you at Ellerslie on Saturday -

Go the Tangerine!   

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