Te Akau Weekend Update

David writes:

On Thursday we had a visit from our local MP Barbara Kuriger - she has an enormous electorate to service that spans from New Plymouth, takes in Te Awamutu and heads just north of Te Akau.

Barbara is a very intelligent, hard-working Member of Parliament and she is very interested in the racing industry.  She understands the economic impact of our industry whether from the huge number of people it employs to the export dollars it generates.

I had a good opportunity to tell Barbara that racing wasn't getting a fair go from this government.  We are paying too much tax comparitively speaking and if the government wants a healthy industry that is secure, it needs to put something back into the industry - not just take, take, take.

I am not talking about gifts of money such as the rugby union received for the World Cup or yachting and Team NZ for the America's Cup - I am talking about setting the tax rate on each bet at a level that gives the New Zealand Racing Board sufficient money to deliver decent stakes.

It's a beautiful day today on the farm and in fact the spell of recent weather has been amazing - isn't autumn a lovely time of the year?  All I would like is a little bit of rain tomorrow!

Our Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker had another good night last night at Kranji training two further winners.  Congratulations to Our Touche's owner Chris Rutten who also raced Vespa along with a number of other very successful horses.  Well done too, to Fortuna Syndicators with King Savinsky who I bought for them from the Karaka Select Sale for $90,000 - he has already won over $100,000 in Singapore.

Karyn and I are spending the weekend on the farm - tomorrow Karyn heads off at daybreak to Auckland for her final 'Weigh In' programme for the season.  Then tomorrow evening we have a very special friend - Luke Radich - coming to stay.  Of course Luke was a stalwart of Trackside TV but nowadays is a crown prosecutor based in Auckland.

It promises to be a very enjoyable weekend which we hope yours is too.