Te Akau Weekend Update

David writes:

It has been a pretty quiet weekend (relatively speaking - Ed) at Te Akau with placings and no racing in Singapore today, Sunday.

With all the yearling sales behind us (for now - Ed) life returns to normal (is there such a thing? - Ed) and I have more time to put into our farm and getting my desk in a bit more order!

We bought two striking colts in Sydney and both have the 'FULLY SOLD' sign up already - that is always so exciting!

Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances, we now have a 10% share in a very smart Snitzel colt available.  We have almost finished breaking this highly athletic colt in and our head breaker tells me this young horse has a terrific action and gives him a great feel when he is being ridden.  He is an intelligent colt and he has been very professional throughout his breaking in and he is a very good looker too as you can see below.

This colt is out of a really good mare who has already left a Champion Two Year Old that was her first foal and this colt is her third foal.  Being the half brother to a champion, combined with what he has shown us thus far, makes him a really exciting proposition.

He was Lot 430 at the Karaka Premier Sale and I was lucky enough to secure him for $200,000 - a small fraction of what I thought he was worth.  He is, as I said, by Snitzel who incidentally won seven races himself including four as a two year old and has already left 35 stakes' winners.  Snitzel is regarded as one of the very best sires in Australia and he stands at A$110,000 at Arrowfield Stud.

It will be first in, first served - if you want this share (or a 5% share) -
let us know as soon as possible!

Last week I also bought a stunning filly by Rock 'n' Pop out of the paddock. She is out of the Marju mare Princess Caga who is a half sister to the stakes' winner and Group 1 performer Alegrio.  This filly is just gorgeous as you can see from her photo below - she comes from a family full of Group 1 winners including Toronado (High Chaparral) who won the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, Casamento (Sharmadal) who won the Group 1 Doncaster Racing Post Trophy Post in the UK, dual Group 1 winner Heart of Dreams who won the Group 1 VRC Australian Guineas and Group 1 MRC Underwood Stakes and French Clock, the Group 1 SAJC Underwood Stakes' winner.

If you think that is an impressive group of relations - it is - and what is even more exciting is that she was terrific buying!  We are in the middle of breaking her in and the team reports she is handling everything asked of her brilliantly.

Karyn and I were going to take 50% of this filly ourselves but as I was going around the farm this morning I suddenly thought - "what if she turns out to be the best yearling I have bought this year?  It is hardly fair that I don't at least first offer her to our owners who have given us so much support - so that is what I have decided to do!

And yes you are reading this correctly ... a 10% share is just $2,200 plus GST and that is not a typo!

All of the yearlings that we have purchased this year have now either been broken in or are in the process of being broken in.

We have had a bit of rain on the farm which is looking really green at the moment.  The development of the new part of Te Akau Stud has been completed and now all we have to do is a bit of fencing.  We have a lot more grass than normal on the farm for this time of the year and we seem to have had more rain than most of the Waikato, all meaning that we are going into winter in great shape.

It has also been perfect weather for all the horses that are spelling at the farm and they are all doing just so well.  It is such a pleasure to see them all happy and flourishing, Karyn and I love driving around every day seeing how they are all doing.

The foals have all been weaned now and this year we have some real beauties. Lots of Rock 'n' Pop's and Burgundy's plus some super Darci Brahma's.  This year our mares are in foal to Darci Brahma (7), Burgundy (10), Rock 'n' Pop (9), Savabeel (1), Per Incanto (1), Tavistock (1), Pins (1) and Ghibellines (1).

Now on to a very important matter that I have on my mind - today I have one request for the racing administrators in Wellington.  Please get your track conditions read and communicated accurately and if the stewards, who take over a race meeting at about 7.30am on race day get it wrong like they did at Rotorua last week, then they should be charged and fined.

About 16 years ago when I trained the team at Matamata, I was fined about $100 for failing to declare a jockey on time.  I deserved the fine because that was a breach of the rules - well surely then the stewards on duty at Rotorua who effectively misled punters and owners should also be charged and given official warnings.

On the morning of the Rotorua race meeting, the team and I discussed whether we should start Linchpin, one of our stable runners scheduled to race there.  I said yes as there was no rain forecast and the track was a Dead6 - so the horse was sent to Rotorua, a return trip that costs our owners about $220.  When our co-trainer Jamie Richards arrived on course he reported to me that in his opinion the track was a 9 or 10 and we immediately scratched the horse but the transport cost still has to be paid for by our owners - it's not good enough!!

On the morning of a race meeting there should be strict and universal protocols - there seems to be no uniformed approach across the country to this process of declaring track conditions and this needs to be urgently addressed.

The other disappointing news is that next week's "Weigh In" show on Trackside is the last for this season.  There is still lots of good racing to come and how do the jumping people further promote interest in jumping when there is no show to review some of the best winter racing on offer?

As well as that, in two weeks' time the Cambridge Jockey Club meets at Te Rapa and there is some outstanding racing scheduled - then we move on to the Queensland Carnival which will have huge Kiwi interest as it normally does.  Then the jumps start in earnest as we lead into Te Rapa with the Waikato Hurdles and Steeplechase in May - but no "Weigh In" - that's such a pity.

Speaking of the Cambridge Jockey Club's meeting, Xtravagant is flying in his track work and Heroic Valour - our unbeaten Group 1 winning two year old - is enjoying a well-deserved spell at Te Akau Stud.  He won't race again until the Spring but we still have about 38-40 horses to race in the next couple of months - so there is plenty to look forward to.

Have a great week!