Te Akau TV - A Group 2 Treble Incoming
Date: 18 Oct 2024
It's set to be a BIG weekend for the tangerine!
We've been celebrating at Te Akau Racing, reflecting on a remarkable week of outstanding results!
In just 48 hours last weekend, Te Akau celebrated seven wins across our New Zealand and Australian stables, including two Group and Listed victories. With three wins on Kiwi soil and four in Australia, our team is truly firing on all cylinders early in the season.
In New Zealand, we’re proud to lead the Trainers’ Premiership by 14 wins, with an impressive 4.5% strike rate—that’s one win for every four runners! We’re also the first stable this season to crack $1 million in prize money for our owners.
Meanwhile, our Australian stable is making plenty of waves, winning seven of our last 12 races at a remarkable 33.3% strike rate. It’s a different calculation in Australia, but it means that a third of our runners are winners. Our placings strike rate is a massive 63%, meaning well over half of our starters run second or third—if not first! We’re also right on the cusp of $1 million earned for our owners at our Cranbourne operation. Our return on punters’ investment, as calculated by one site, stands at a massive 176.8%, leading the top 40 Victorian trainers.
From Our Paramour’s Friday night win at Cranbourne to Inspired By Art’s victory at Te Rapa on Saturday, followed by our Ashburton double with Vivacious and Fellini claiming the Ashburton Cup. The highlight, of course, was Bellatrix Star’s incredible third Australian black-type victory in a row as she flew home in the Group 2 Schillaci Stakes in Melbourne—becoming the first 3YO filly in 21 years to win the Schillaci, marking an historic result for the team. We capped it off with two more wins at Seymour on Sunday: Stage 'N' Screen on debut, and Midnight Blue, who blew his opposition away in the Listed Seymour Cup.
Congratulations to our owners and supporters—this run of success is just the beginning of bigger things on and off the track! A huge shoutout again to our incredible teams in New Zealand and Australia; we are so grateful for your hard work!
On Te Akau TV this week we catch up with Ben Gleeson and Reece Trumper ahead of what will be a big Saturday of action! All eyes turn to Melbourne for its time-honoured Caulfield Cup Day. We’ve got a Group 2 triple treat with Quintessa in the Tristarc Stakes, Sans Doute in the Millennium Sprint, and Exuberance lining up in the Thousand Guineas Prelude. We’re excited to have international jockeys like Champion Joao Moreira aboard Exuberance, reigning Hong Kong champ Zac Purton riding Quintessa, and Kiwi Michael Dee taking the reins on Sans Doute.
Back home, it’s a somewhat quieter weekend on the racing front with Legally Binding and Rule Of Law representing Te Akau at Ellerslie, while another of our ‘babies’ experiences race day for the first time as Cool Aza Rene debuts at Otaki. On Sunday, El Viento races at Ashburton, and Mehzebeen and Class fly the flag for us at Waverley.
Best of luck to all our owners and connections this weekend. Le'go team tangerine!