Te Akau Weekend Update

David writes:

Gee I must say that I have really enjoyed watching Trackside each morning this week to see the replays of all of the races from the Cheltenham Festival in the United Kingdom.

Seeing 25 horses go around in a jumping race is unbelievably exciting and they attract huge crowds on each of the five days that they stage on the world famous course.

One thing that I am determined to do before much longer is to go to this festival and witness the best jumping in the world - the jockeys there are clever, experienced, top class horsemen and the horses are presented in absolutely beautiful condition.

They literally sell the place out for five days in a row and if you are a jumping fan, which I most certainly am, this is something that we should all do in our lives.

It has been a fantastic weekend so far for Te Akau Racing.  On Friday night Mark won with the Sakhee's Secret filly Secret Spice (out of Caparison who we used to train) - I bought her at the sale for Fortuna Syndicators.  Well done to the Fortuna team for winning another race in Singapore - this year Fortuna has really enjoyed success with horses we train for them such as stakes' winners Darci's Dream and Windborne.

After having a successful night in Singapore, our attention turned to New Zealand.  The Chairman of the Waikato Racing Club is a hard task master (hey!! - Ed) and informed me on Monday that we were sponsoring a race at Te Rapa on Saturday (which we like doing anyway, especially at Te Rapa).

So I told the Chairman I would sponsor the race that we had two runners entered for - Abidewithme and Spellbinder - and home came Spellbinder in most impressive style.  She will have both of her next two starts in Group 1 races - the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes and the Easter Handicap.

Spellbinder is an O'Reilly mare and she so reminds me of my first Group 1 winner - a mare called Cosmetique who beat Waverley Star in the 1986 Easter Handicap, giving me my first taste of what winning a Group 1 race means.

The advantage for Spellbinder is that if there is any moisture around in the next six weeks, which you would think there is bound to be, it will really play into her hands.  This high class mare hasn't finished winning yet, let me assure you of that!

So it was a thrill to win the race that Te Akau sponsored and we enjoyed a great day of racing at Te Rapa.  It was notable that Matamata trained horses won four of the nine races at Te Rapa yesterday which tells me that the cough that has done the rounds through most Matamata stables has finally gone and you can expect Matamata horses to win a lot of races in the next six to eight weeks.

We were also pleased with the efforts of Angelica Hall and No Tricks who both went top races for fourth at Trentham in the Lightning Stakes and Group 2 Wellington Guineas respectively.

Buying horses is an exciting occupation because of what is always around the corner.

For example 18 months or so ago, I purchased a Darci Brahma filly for Fortuna and she is a half sister to Suavito - a Thorn Park 3YO whose winning form in Melbourne at present, including Group 1 and Group 2 races, is nothing short of dynamic.

I bought this filly from IDL Racing which is managed by George and Maryanne Simon.  Suavito has now won four Group races including a Group 1 from her last four starts.  She has raced 17 times with seven wins and seven other top three placings, with stakes' earnings of $877,550.  So regardless of how the Fortuna Darci filly races, she has really good residual value as the family is on the move.

Another prime example of this is the Shamoline Warrior/Amanthea filly I purchased at last November's Ready to Run Sale at Karaka.  I thought this filly could be bought for around $70,000 and was really surprised when I had to go to $125,000 to buy her.  However this filly was on my "must buy" list and I was determined to buy her and hence was prepared to pay a bit more.

I had studied the family closely and it subsequently unfolded that Royden Bergerson, who is a very good trainer from Awapuni, knew a bit more than I did.  He knew that he had Savaria (a Savabeel filly out of Amathea) in his stable and he was pretty sure back in November that he could win the Group 1 NZ Oaks with her.

So the owners of the Shamoline Warrior filly who is now named Interstellar now have a great ride ahead of them as every time her half sister Savaria wins, our filly increases substantially in value.

Yet ANOTHER example of studying families carefully is with last season's Karaka Million, Group 1 Diamond Stakes and Listed Westbury Stud Challenge Stakes' winner and Champion 2YO of the Year Vespa winning the Group 2 Wellington Guineas at Trentham yesterday.  Vespa is a serious horse and I bought his half brother this year at Karaka.

Our Zacinto colt out of Miss Avalon was purchased by me for $100,000 and he has certainly gone up in value already after his half brother Vespa has proven that he is just not a speedy two year old - he has trained on as a classy three year old and I think he can win  Group 1 races as a four year old, even beyond.

There is only 10% remaining in our Zacinto colt, Vespa's half brother.  Look at him - he is such a looker, a real athlete who has done superbly well since the sale.

Astunning colt and if you want the final 10% share you will have to be very quick to secure a part of this half brother to the Champion 2YO of last season, the Karaka Million, Group 1 Diamond Stakes, Listed Westbury Stud Challenge Stakes and now Group 2 Wellington Guineas' winner Vespa.

Isn't Waikato Stud's stallion Savabeel on fire?  At last year's Karaka Sale we purchased seven of his off-spring and this year we bought four.  We also sent a mare, the stake's performer Quintette, to Savabeel last year.  Three of the four Savabeels that we bought have already sold but we do have shares available in a gorgeous colt by Savabeel out of the gun racemare Kay's Awake.  This colt was purchased by me for $150,000 and is one of the nicest colts that we bought this year.

So if you want to race a Savabeel, this is a great opportunity - he is a stand out Savabeel colt and a 10% share is $15,000 plus GST or a 5% share just $7,500 plus GST.

Karyn and I have spent the morning in the office and this afternoon we are going for a long walk around the farm.  Then we will settle in to concentrate on the Singapore races tonight.

It is just wonderful to see Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker on fire - this is a guy who works seven days a week from 4am in the morning and often he can be out having dinner with owners at 10.30pm at night.  It is always great to see people who are so dedicated getting the results.  Mark is now I think eight in front on the Trainers' Premiership which is a huge result for New Zealand bred horses.