Te Akau Tuesday Update

David writes:

It is very hard to stop the farmer from Te Akau from being happy at the moment. 

This morning I was absolutely delighted when we received 13mls of rain but of course, unfortunately the racecourses up here get that rain as well. It is very frustrating when you have many nice horses ready to race and all we get to race or trial on is soft tracks. 

So of course the farmer is always 'twixt and 'tween'!

On the bright side, we are only two weeks away from October and that is when the tracks do really begin to improve, and we consistently have good tracks for the next six months. This is something that all the Te Akau team is looking forward to. 

Even though we won five races last week, it was still a frustrating week with five seconds and quite a number of other placings. The good news is that the horses are racing really well and on Sunday, our trainer Jamie Richards won three races at Taupo.

Two of our winners were ridden very professionally by jockey Danielle Johnson and the third winner, High Achiever, a Pins gelding who has now had two starts for two wins, was ridden by Chad Ormsby. Danielle is now leading the Jockeys' Premiership while Jamie is currently first equal in the Trainers' Premiership.

It was great to be racing at Taupo and congratulations to the Taupo Racing Club for the new facilities that they have there. Its track was in great order and the new stalls make a huge difference and are a lot easier for all the team at Te Akau Racing who look after our horses.  We were delighted to sponsor a stall named after Gingernuts!

It was a big thrill to win three in a row at Taupo, and the success doesn't stop in New Zealand. Our Singapore trainer Mark Walker also had another win as well, in fact he produced the quinella in that race. I don't believe there has been a weekend this year that he hasn't had a winner! Mark is still in front in the Trainers' Premiership in Singapore, which is truly a great effort - well done Mark. 

We had a large team trial today at Te Rapa and some eye catching effort too. Gee we have an exciting team to race for this new season - just watch this space!.

All our attention this week turns to Hawke's Bay and the first Group 1 race of the season - how exciting is that? I've been told that the Hawke's Bay track is in great condition.

The hot favourite for the Group 1 Tarzino Trophy Daffodil raceday is our girl Avantage who, after winning the Group 2 Valachi Downs Foxbridge Plate, is in great shape although at this level they don't win at every start that's for sure. 

One of the great things about winning the Foxbridge Plate is that it is staged at Te Rapa. There have been some legendary horses that have won this race
over the years and I can think of a former President of the Waikato Racing Club who had great success with this race - the great Roy Robinson. He won just about every race in Australasia, including the Melbourne Cup. Roy won the Foxbridge Plate three times, with a great horse called Bardell. 

David Smith is another previous Chairman of the Waikato Racing Club who has been involved with racing a winner of the Foxbridge Plate - Avantage! David is of course well known as one of New Zealand's major sponsors of racing and the equine industry through his company Dunstan Feeds.

We are great fans of Dunstan and all our thoroughbreds have a Dunstan diet. It is great to see people who make a living out of racing put as much back into the industry and the sport like David and his company do. 

While it was a huge thrill to win that race, as well as the Group 3 Northern Breeders' Stakes with Need I Say More, it would've been even better if we had been able to be on course.

However we completely understand and support the fact that we must take all precautions to ensure racing continues. It appears that we will literally be 'back on track' from next week and will be able to start attending the races and trials again. 

We can't wait!

Everything is going really well on the farm. On Monday, we sent more horses back into the stable that have been spelling here on the farm and there are more set to leave tomorrow. I've noticed that this has been a very kind winter for the horses who have been spelling and they are doing exceptionally well. The horses have been losing their winter coats earlier than normal, which is great to see. 

We have been busy docking at Te Akau Stud on every fine day and I just get the feeling that the grass is just beginning to grow now. The days are getting longer and with these heavy showers that we have been getting, it is all contributing to the grass growth. 

We have bought another 200 cattle in the last ten days so we are really stocked up to the hilt, so you can see how important and necessary the grass growth is for us. 

The store cattle price represents great buying at the moment. My longstanding stock agent is Alan Radford - he has purchased all my cattle for me since 1979 - he purchased some good yearling steers today at the Frankton Sale. Their average was $785 each - now that is great buying! They arrived at the farm this evening. 

I've also noticed that the lambs are doing exceptionally well this spring and it is great to see the cattle, which we will start selling in the next four to six weeks, also thriving.

I'm really looking forward to the Ready to Run Sale which isn't too far away now - the horses will start breezing up in four weeks' time at Te Rapa. I've purchased some really serious racehorses at this sale - Group 1 winners such as Gingernuts, Te Akau Shark and Hall of Fame. If you would like to be involved at any level, feel free to give me a call on 021 925 151 or email Karyn to be on our priority list for all the news on the horses we buy - [email protected]

Have a great week, and all the best to our owners. We have got some good chances at Hawkes Bay on Saturday .... and ....

GO THE TANGERINE!

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