Te Akau Tuesday Update
Date: 28 Sep 2021
David writes:
The last ten days of September and the first week of October are always the most challenging period of the racing season in my view.
Everyone wants decent grass tracks to race and trial on, but I have observed over the years that they never seem to arrive until mid October in the North Island. By mid-October, the plough is open and Te Akau really starts to fire - this year will be no exception.
It was a quiet weekend for our New Zealand stable by Te Akau's standards, with no domestic runners due to the very heavy nature of the tracks. However we did see three very good performances by the team in Australia - and our Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker had a very good win at Kranji with a horse he trains for Fortuna. Mark currently leads the Trainers' Premiership, with racing for the season drawing to a close in November.
This week Karyn is looking to try and buy another horse to race in Singapore so if you are keen to be involved with our Singapore stable, do drop her an email - [email protected]
I was thrilled with the way our three horses raced in Sydney and Melbourne on Saturday. None really had much luck - Sword of State was shuffled back and wide in his stakes' race, same for Entriviere in her Group 2 event but she rallied superbly for third. Meantime, Probabeel was a gallant Group 1 runner up to the star galloper Zaaki and on the quick one-week backup too.
Probabeel added another Group 1 placing to her impressive statistics - she has already won three Group 1 races in Australia. Entriviere was eye catching when third in the Group 2 Golden Pendant as she vies for an invitation to the (aptly named) A$2 Million Invitation. Sword of State was having his first start since March and he will take great improvement from that outing.
What a fantastic job Paul Richards and Ashley Handley are doing for us in Sydney and Melbourne respectively.
Also special congratulations to Ashley - she has been named the Northern Finalist for the NZTR Stablehand of the Year Award that will be announced at the Horse of the Year Awards on 21 November. As one of three national finalists, she has received $2,500 - well done Ashley, we are so proud of you!
Last Thursday, I travelled to our Matamata stable to say goodbye to Avantage. It was only four months or so previously that we had had bade farewell to another of our superstar mares in Melody Belle. It was probably only about five months ago that we had Probabeel, Avantage and Melody Belle all in our Matamata stable under the expert care of Nicole Shailer.
These three mares have ALL won the Karaka 2YO Million (and the 3YO Million in the case of Probabeel) - and 26 Group 1 races between them.
How unbelievable is this trio? I am very proud to have purchased them all. In total they cost $647,000 and they have won nearly $10 million. I believe that if Probabeel was sold (and she never will be, she is Brendan and Jo Lindsay's pride and joy) their combined worth would be at least $10 million. Our team has done an outstanding job with each one of them.
What you can't put a price on however the incredible amount of fun and joy these mares' owners have had from these three magnificent racehorses.
A huge congratulations to the studs and the breeders and also to New Zealand Bloodstock that sold them. I deal with many companies over a 12 month period and there is none better than New Zealand Bloodstock. It really leads the way in this part of world with innovation and expertise and we should be very proud of this New Zealand company.
I have had huge interest from all around the world regarding the record online price that was fetched for Avantage on New Zealand Bloodstock's Gavelhouse Plus. The feedback has been just incredible - everyone knows who we are and what we do as a country!
I would like to thank Avantage's owners - they are an amazing team of the loveliest people you could meet.l They were excellent to train for and they had an incredible ride!
It's been a beautiful morning here at Te Akau Stud. Yesterday we finished docking and I estimate the lambing percentage to be just over 150%. This morning we have also been busy drenching the cattle that my agent Alan Radford bought for me yesterday.
The great news is that beef and lamb prices are at record levels. A good friend of mine actually sold lambs yesterday for $10 per kg, making them worth about $240 each, while most farmers are receiving about $6.60 per kilo for beef. It's such good news that after all these years we are shaping up to have a really good year, given we are in the middle of a global pandemic.
Today I am spending all afternoon further studying the Ready to Run Sale catalogue. Te Akau has brought some top class racehorses fr0m this sale eg Group 1 winners Gingernuts, Te Akau Shark and Hall of Fame, as well as Group 1 performers like Brando.
If you want to be part of the action and join the team with a share in a Ready to Run two-year-old then please call me on 021 925 151 or email Karyn - [email protected] - you will be made to feel very welcome.
With Te Akau you have plenty of options - you can purchase a horse outright, for example we had an owner in there weekend ask us to buy a RTR horse that he can race with his children. Or you can take a small share in a horse - and have it trained by the best in the business!