Te Akau Tuesday Update

David writes:

There is no question that going away for a winter holiday
means you have your foot to the floor when you return … and so it is - but this
is a time of the year I really love!

Since Karyn and I arrived back in New Zealand three weeks
ago, our feet have barely touched the ground - there has been so much happening!

On Friday, we had six Australian owners of Te Akau Shark to
stay at the farm from Sydney - and Karyn had travelled to the South Island for
her mother's 80^th birthday which was on that same day.  She then drove up to Christchurch that night
and to catch a plane back to Hamilton very early on Saturday morning as it was
a big day for the Waikato Racing Club at Te Rapa.  The feature event was the Group 2 US Navy
Flag Foxbridge Plate and we had a great day at the races with two runner in the
big race.  Te Akau Shark went a ripper of
a race for a very close second and the defending champion Melody Belle also
delivered a top performance fresh up for fourth - both have big campaigns ahead
of them.

Sunday was another busy day as we hosted a joint birthday
celebration at Te Akau Stud - for both our trainer Jamie Richards and his
sister and our Racing Manager, Libby Richards. 
Less than 24 hours apart, Jamie turned 30 on Sunday, while Libby turned
28 on Monday - and their wonderful mother Leanne has her birthday this week so
it was a real party - and all so much fun!

Monday afternoon we travelled to Matamata to see all the
horses in the stable before making our way to the Matamata Racing Club annual
Awards' Evening - Chairman of the Club Dennis Ryan and his team always put on a
great night.  

Te Akau Racing was lucky enough to take out the Champion 2YO award with Yourdeel, Champion 3YO with Avantage, Champion Sprinter Miler and Horse of the Year with Melody Belle and Trainer of the Year with Jamie Richards.

This was the fourth year that this evening has taken place
and we have been fortunate enough to win the title of Horse of the Year every
time.

In 2016, it was Xtravagant (purchased for $360,000), in 2017 the legendary Gingernuts took the title (purchased for $42,500), in 2018 it was Avantage (purchased for $210,000) and for 2019, Melody Belle (purchased for $57, 500).

Each year, since becoming a trainer, Jamie has been named
Trainer of the Year!  We would like to
congratulate him, as well the team who supports us in the stables at Matamata
and at Te Akau Stud - these results are only possible if everyone works as a
team, so well done!

We had more trials today at Te Rapa racecourse and tomorrow we
have some nice chances at Taupo - the preview of our runners will be on our
website tomorrow morning.

And YES - only 11 days until the start of Spring, which is
my favourite time of the year!

I must say we are having a great winter on the farm. Lambing
is all but finished, and we will be ready to start docking in ten days' time.
It looks like we have had a record number of twins too.

We are busy buying yearling steers at the present, as they
are averaging around $927. My goal is to buy 2000 by the end of November.

Te Akau Caliburn, the horse we purchased in Europe, has settled in well in Melbourne at the Werribee Quarantine Station, where he is being looked after by Anna Jones. On Thursday, Jamie will travel over to see him. This week Probabeel will be flying out to Sydney while Te Akau Shark will be following suit next week.  It is certainly gearing up to be an exciting season for Te Akau Racing.

Finally for this update - we have been able to secure a beautifully bred two year old Pierro filly - he was the Champion First and Second Season Sire in Australia and his yearlings have sold up to A$1.1 million.   He has already produced recent Group 1 stars such as Levendi (Australian Derby), Pinot (VRC Oaks), Arcadia Queen (Kingstown Town Classic), Pierata (All Aged Stakes), Furore (Hong Kong Derby & Hong Kong Classic Mile) and many more outstanding young racehorses who have won at Group level.  For example Action (Grp 2 WATC Derby), Regal Power (Grp 2 WATC Derby), Tulip (Grp 3 Magic Night Stakes) and Bellevue Hill (Grp 3 Schweppervescence Hcp)

Pierro is the highest rated juvenile since 1977 and was the highest rated 3YO Sprinter in the world in 2013.  Our filly (below earlier this year) is out of a young winning Fastnet Rock mare, herself a half-sister to the Listed winner, and winner of nine races in his career thus far, Distinctive Darci - trained by Mark Walker so we know this family well.   

Stable-named “Gemma”, she has broken in like a consummate professional and is currently in training and is scheduled to trial at Cambridge in late September.  She is very correct and strong and athletic, nicely built with a fluid stride and a super pedigree (future residual value)!

She was terrific buying - you can have a
10% share in her for only $7,500 +GST or
a 5% share for only $3,750 +GST. 

Get some friends together and have plenty of fun!
Contact Karyn now if you are interested - [email protected]

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