Te Akau Tuesday Update

David writes:

What an exciting weekend was for Team Te Akau!

The good news is that the horses have come through the weekend better than "team leader" - gee I slept well last night!

Karyn and I spent the weekend in Hawkes Bay for the Hastings' races, staying at the Black Barn Vineyard with family and friends. What a beautiful part of the world Hawkes Bay is - although one thing did stand out to me - and that was there wasn't the normal surplus of grass for the farmers.

On Saturday morning our team got a thrill out of arriving on course - everything was set up in fantastic order for a Group 1 day. A big crowd, everyone in good spirits and most importantly, the track was magnificent. The course looked amazing and the atmosphere of anticipation was electric.

Gee that Butch (Andrew) Castles, the CEO of Hawkes Bay Racing, knows how to put on a top day. His wife Tess is also a champion, always everywhere supporting Butch and the Club, ensuring everyone is happy and everything is going well. They are a first class team - nobody does it better and Hawkes Bay Racing should be congratulated on a great day - racing was certainly the winner!

Naturally it was a great thrill to be involved with Melody Belle - a mare who has done what no other horse before her could - achieved the Triple Crown of Group 1 wins over the Carnival. Outstanding horses have tried, and failed - she really is a beauty isn't she?

I guess what gave me the biggest thrill is the fact that Melody Belle is exactly a good example of the type of horse I am always aiming to purchase. A horse that can win at two years of age without being pressured, who can win Group races at two, three and four years of age and then have their best year as a five year old!

Saturday's victory saw Melody Belle also become the horse who has now won the most New Zealand Group 1 races ever - nine! She surpassed (King) Mufhasa, a dual Horse of the Year, in winning on Saturday.

Actually the win in the Group 1 Livamol was the fourth time Te Akau has won the event - Distinctly Secret who I bred and raced and Princess Coup who won the race twice, and on those latter two occasions it was a $2 million purse. Opie Bosson another genius ride - and another Livamol for him too!

Our NZ trainer jamie Richards went so close to having a massive day on Saturday - winning the Group 1 in New Zealand and writing history and then having Probabeel and Te Akau Shark both perform with distinction to finish runner up in their respective Group 1 assignments in Sydney - the A$500,000 Flight Stakes and the A$1 million Epsom Handicap.

So we went within half a head of winning Group 1 races on BOTH sides of the Tasman.

A special thank you to Ashley Handley in Sydney and firstly Anna Jones and now Craig Thornton in Melbourne who have been on the ground with our horses there. Both are part of the Te Akau team in New Zealand and have done a stellar job working with Jamie on our horses campaigning in Australia.

We announced today that Ashley is our "Te Akau Team Member of the Month" - do read and enjoy her story. We created this to thank and recognise our team - they are world class and this reflects in our results on the track - thank you all!

On Sunday the focus went from Group 1 racing to racing at Te Teko - and the tangerine was to the fore again with Prise De Fer, a Savabeel gelding I purchased from Karaka, winning in good fashion for Opie Bosson.

We have Melody Belle's half sister having her first start later this week in the South Island. She has been showing promise in training so we are looking forward to her racing career unfold. Danielle Johnson who has had terrific success in the tangerine is going south to ride our team.

Let's just hope we get some better weather and the tracks start improving and firming up - it sure is a frustrating time of the year racing on soft tracks.

Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker also had another excellent weekend of results with three wins - including Broadway Success, an Alamosa gelding I bought from the Karaka Ready to Run Sale that we syndicated to specifically race in Singapore. This treble of wins has taken Mark to a staggering 20-win lead on the Trainers' Premiership.

S/No	Trainer Name	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Unplaced	Total Runners	Strike Rate (%)
1	M WALKER	67	64	58	53	340	582	11.51
2	M CLEMENTS	47	35	34	25	204	345	13.62
3	S BAERTSCHIGER	45	26	32	23	241	367	12.26
4	D MEAGHER	41	39	34	43	157	314	13.06
5	C BROWN	41	35	26	24	185	311	13.18
6	DL FREEDMAN	34	47	45	42	179	347	9.80
7	HW TAN	26	30	24	22	248	350	7.43
8	J SAIMEE	26	21	15	20	212	294	8.84
9	S BURRIDGE	25	21	29	21	174	270	9.26
10	S GRAY	24	29	35	33	226	347	6.92
11	D LOGAN	24	26	20	18	140	228	10.53
12	J PETERS	21	27	30	20	159	257	8.17
13	L DRAGON	21	12	23	17	100	173	12.14
14	H TAKAOKA	20	21	24	27	202	294	6.80
15	J O'HARA	19	20	19	24	185	267	7.12

Jamie also leads the New Zealand Trainers' Premiership so well done to all our teams in both countries.

		Wins	2nds	3rds	Stakes	Starts	G & L	SR
1	Jamie Richards	16	15	13	$609,738	113	3	7.06
2	Stephen Marsh	14	9	10	$276,770	120	1	8.57
3	Kevin Myers	13	14	17	$242,656	131	0	10.08
4	Tony Pike	11	4	5	$228,615	39	1	3.55
5	Shaun & Emma Clotworthy	8	5	8	$150,888	63	0	7.88
6	Peter & Jessica Brosnan	8	2	3	$87,450	36	0	4.5
7	Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman	7	8	6	$229,995	59	2	8.43
8	Kelvin Tyler & Aimee Tyler	7	8	6	$140,012	55	0	7.86
9	Shaune Ritchie	7	7	6	$173,515	38	0	5.43
10	Nigel Tiley	7	4	4	$111,390	44	0	6.29

So yesterday it was back to work at Te Akau Stud - the grass is growing but certainly not taking off. All the ewes and lambs have been crutched and the lambs have all been drenched. We will shear and wean in about three weeks' time. The cattle are thriving and are putting on about 1.5kgs per day at present.

My attention now turns to the Ready to Run Sale in November. An excellent catalogue is out and has my full attention. Remember we have purchased some top horses from this sale and offered shares in them - horses like Group 1 winners and performers Gingernuts, Hall of Fame, Te Akau Shark and Singapore Polytrack Horse of the year Flying Fulton.

These outstanding individuals have all come from this sale and Te Akau will again be inspecting every horse and buying for certain!

Have a great week - and keep an eye on the team which is firing -

GO THE TANGERINE!

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