Te Akau Tuesday Update

David and Karyn write:

We certainly live in times of great uncertainty, of challenge and of worry for so many. Families, livelihoods, life as we know it - all at risk in what is effectively now a war.

Tomorrow our slice of Paradise, this small South Pacific country New Zealand moves to Alert-4 which means this country goes into lock-down for four weeks in its fight against Covid-19.

We cannot underestimate or even begin to imagine how hard this will be on everyone - especially the young who really do not comprehend the seriousness of this fight, or if old enough to understand a little, who live in fear. The elderly and unwell who are so vulnerable to our enemy. The businesses that have to lay off staff and face collapse. Families under huge pressure and stress.

Our lives will change indelibly - and we can no longer conduct life the way we have. For how long we do not know, but we do know one thing - we have each other.

The country is acting drastically to give us the best fighting chance and we must all play our part. We must be an active part of the army that fights this unseen peril. If anyone can, Kiwis can.

We are built of serious stuff, bred out of pioneering and adventuring spirit. Living in a land founded on hope, dreams, vision - of what life could be like. We have heritage and courage and heart in our blood.

And when this ends, and it will, we just don't know when - we will be more staunch and resolute - caring for our community and together, ready for the challenge and the bright future that lies ahead.

We have just over 24 hours to prepare. At 11.59 pm tomorrow night, New Zealand will go into lock down - self-isolation for this small nation.  As our Prime Minister said: “without the measures announced today, tens of thousands of New Zealanders could die”.

As a result of the government announcement, New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (our governing body) yesterday declared all racing and trials cancelled for the next four weeks.  

Te Akau has moved swiftly to care for our team and our horses - as well as our owners and friends as they are our absolute priority.

We had thought for some time that this might happen, so we have been quietly preparing for this behind the scenes.  We have strategies in place to protect our team in these rapidly changing times.  Keeping them safe and also ensuring we can give them as much peace of mind as we can - this is so important. 

We have a magnificent team of people who give their all to our horses.  They love them and are so committed to them - times will be tough but we will be doing everything to look after our people as well as our horses.

Today and tomorrow, we will be moving most of our horses to Te Akau Stud to spell - the first floats arrived today and as we say, it was an exercise we hoped would never happen, but nonetheless we had plans in place for that were able to be quickly executed.

This is a beautiful part of the world where self-isolation is very straightforward!

We will stay in good touch with you all via social media and keep you updated on your horses, and life at Te Akau in general in the coming days and weeks.

While there may not be any racing wins we can celebrate - we remain excited about the quality of horses that we have at Te Akau and together with our owners, we cannot wait to see them back racing when that time arrives.

So, very importantly, take special care of yourselves and your families and friends - as well as neighbours and even people in your area that you do not know - have a communication plan in place and look out for each other.

While there is uncertainty, one thing we all know - we are resilient and we are up for this fight.  We will dig deep and stay positive, and care about our families, friends, neighbours, work colleagues - the elderly and the vulnerable - we are in this together.  Go the tangerine ‘fight team'!

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