Te Akau Tuesday Update
17 August, 2021
David writes:
With no runners in New Zealand over the weekend, it was left to Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker, eight-time Champion Trainer, to keep the Te Akau flag flying.
Mark is absolutely on fire in Singapore and recorded three wins on Sunday night. The way these horses won, you can clearly see that there is a lot more in store for them. It was great to see our grand campaigner Cousteau benefit from a spot-on ride and win for his mostly Kiwi connections. Cousteau is by Exceed and Excel and I bought him from the Gold Coast Sale - stakes' placed as a two year old in New Zealand, his owners decided they would send him to Singapore to race and he has now won well over $225,000, with $46,000 in this season alone.
Here at Te Akau Racing, we have always prided ourselves in putting time and training into young apprentices and Mark has three top young apprentices under his wing at present. This includes Apprentice K Hakim (Muhamad Aiman Hakim Bin Kamaruddin) - with 42 wins to his credit, he is currently leading the Apprentice Jockey Premiership by 26 wins, the second placed apprentice on 16 wins.
Mark has posted 46 wins this season and is only two wins away from the premiership leader. He still has a very good chance to claim the Trainer's Premiership (the season runs to a calendar year) and he has a big team to race over the next couple of months. How great would it be for Mark to win his fourth premiership in Singapore!?
In New Zealand, August and September are always very frustrating months due to the heavy tracks that abound. We pretty much always get heavy tracks until October which is over three months into our new season, so we are very much looking forward to racing tomorrow on the all-weather track in Cambridge and at Ruakaka on Saturday.
Our stable rider Opie Bosson is getting right back into riding. Last season, Opie won a third of the Group 1 races in New Zealand. We can't wait to see him back in action. Opie is reducing his weight in a very pleasing manner and we have incredibly exciting horses for him to ride.
It's great having the Hawkes Bay Carnival in the Spring because the Bay hasn't had anything like the rain that we've had in the Waikato. This Carnival kicks off a little later this season, on the second weekend of September with the Group 1 Tarzino Trophy Daffodil raceday - the launch of Group 1 racing in New Zealand for the season. It is going to be a very busy weekend, as we also have the New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year awards on the Sunday at Claudelands in Hamilton.
The farm is certainly very wet but the good news is the grass is starting to grow! Lambing has just about finished, and we are only two weeks away until the start of Spring. The days are now becoming longer!
We are busy buying yearling steers and we are buying them early, not because we necessarily have a lot of spare grass, but because we think there will be a shortage once we go into Spring and Summer and the store market will rise very strongly. Our cattle have done extremely well this winter, and we are going to have some magnificent steers to sell through October, November and December.
Tomorrow I am off to Cambridge Stud to see its new stallion Hello Youmzain who is parading in New Zealand for the first time on Friday. NOTE: COVID lockdown possibility dependent!
Only seven more weeks to go until my leg comes out of plaster, and boy am I counting down the days! It is certainly a very frustrating time!
This morning we took several of our Group horses to Taupo for a gallop. A trip away and a gallop on the grass really helps bring these horses on for their big season ahead.
Meanwhile classy mare Entriviere (main picture) and Group 1 winning colt Sword of State touched down in Sydney in the wee hours of this morning. Both travelled well and Entriviere has been nominated to race this Saturday at Royal Randwick with James McDonald engaged to ride the daughter of Tavistock. Paul Richards was on hand to meet this pair and they will be in his very good hands whilst campaigning in New South Wales.
Speaking of the amazing job our travelling team does - Ashley Handley also flew out, but to Melbourne, today to await the arrival of our Group 1 girls Probabeel and Kahma Lass who are scheduled to fly out this evening. We salute Paul and Ashley for their dedication in travelling to Australia to oversee the important racing this quartet has ahead of it.
Have a great week everyone - and here's hoping the news tonight is not as bad re COVID as everyone is anticipating. Karyn and I have the feeling that the news won't be great - you can only hope for the best and follow all the rules that are imposed! New South Wales and Victoria racing authorities have successfully continued racing during their lockdowns, so in recent months surely our industry leadership has had these types of discussions with the relevant government agencies and has plans in place to ensure we can continue to operate.