Te Akau Weekend Update

David writes:

The weekend at Te Akau Stud got off to a tremendous start with Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker winning yet another race in Singapore, this time a Class 5 1700m  with Star Rainbow.  This is a One Cool Cat gelding that I purchased from the Karaka Premier Sale for $40,000 - it was his second win and he has now banked $78,000 in his 19 start career.

Invictus, another horse that I purchased from the Karaka Premier Sale for $200,000 and who is raced locally in Singapore, was also a winner.  By Encosta de Lago from Bella Princess, he has collected $95,000 from his three wins and seven placings in only 18 appearances.

Hardly a weekend goes by without Mark winning a race and it is all very good news for our owners.  Single Act looked really unlucky not to win when finishing fourth and a win for him looks just around the corner.

On Saturday morning Karyn was up bright and early for The First Call and after hosting that she went on to the races at Te Rapa where she is Chairman of the Waikato Racing Club.  Lydia our second youngest daughter flew into Hamilton and her sister Julia Rose who had arrived the night before from Auckland with her partner Hamish went to pick her up.  All three then went to the races and I was very keen to see them home afterwards.

It was really exciting when Lydia arrived home.  She has been in Wellington since flying in from London last week attending to visa requirements with the British High Commission as she wishes to return to live and work in the UK for a further two years.  She is now home on the farm for a couple of weeks and it is really great having her here.

We had a really fun dinner party with the kids' favourite roast lamb on the weber and James Jackson our breaker and our lovely Danish employee Amalie joined us.  Then we watched the All Blacks play. I think we were all a bit disappointed in the game and their performance which will need to be greatly improved if we are to be competitive later on the in season in the Tri-Nation tournament.

Today we have our very good friends Tom and Sue Roper coming to the farm to inspect their horses.  They have raced some really good horses with us including Horse of the Year, Champion 3YO and Champion Sprinter/Miler King's Chapel, Champion 2YO Maroofity and Group winners Society Beau, Spin 'n' Grin and Burgundy.  They have a beautiful Darci Brahma weanling colt out of Spin 'n' Grin that will progress to the yearling sales.

The big news in racing from my point of view this weekend is that Australia's Queensland state government has given Racing Queensland $22 million to complete work on the Eagle farm race course.

You might ask why would governments want to give money to racing? - well my reply to that is that governments around the world do this as they recognise the fundamental economic benefits that racing and breeding industries deliver.

Think about what our government has done for other sports and sportspeople - beneficiaries of government assistance include the NZ Open Pro Am Golf Tournament ($2 million to date with the request for another $1.5 million despite missing targets); assistance to golfer Lydia Ko money to help her international career; America's Cup Team NZ - $5 million to tide them over whilst sponsorships are put in place with a likelihood of a further request; the Rugby World Cup received $80 million plus from government and the list goes on.

Sport NZ funds around $70 million per annum, High Performance NZ around $60 million per annum and the Major Events Development Fund has spent $68.8 million in the past nine years on events that "maximise the long term economic, cultural and social opportunities arising from hosting major events".

I think all these grants are terrific.  They attract tourism and business revenue to New Zealand - but hold on a minute - racing contributes far more than any of these and surely racing is entitled to some level of partnership support with the government!  Remember that we employ about 25,000 people and make a huge contribution to the economy both domestically and via export.

How can the NZ racing industry be expected to compete with Australia when the New South Wales state government contributed some $180 million to the Randwick grandstand, the Victorian state government is reported as almost monthly investing in various clubs in that state - the reason they do that is that they understand the huge impact racing has on the economy.

I fail to understand why our various racing governing bodies are not in the faces of National, Labour, New Zealand First etc discussing those parties' election manifestos and racing policies.

It is election year in New Zealand and our industry governing bodies should be on the front foot - and I think it is the responsibility of the Chairman of the Racing Board to show the leadership and do this - and be reporting back to the industry what she and her team have accomplished.  This is now urgent and seriously needs addressing!