Te Akau Weekend Update

David writes:

A sleep in on a Sunday morning means I generally don't get up until 6.30am and I love having a full drive around the farm, checking all the horses and in particular looking at all the foals we currently have at Te Akau Stud.  It is a great time of the year.

Today Karyn and I are going to Auckland and we are taking our children and their partners out to dinner - we are going to try the Hilton Hotel at the Viaduct for the first time (it's actually a family dinner for David's impending birthday - Ed).

Tomorrow on my way home I am going to Haunui Farm at Karaka to inspect their yearlings and then on Tuesday I will be at Cambridge Stud, Curraghmore Stud on Thursday and Pencarrow Stud on Friday to complete the week.

The rain we had last week has been absolutely amazing for the farm and we have a surplus of grass everywhere which, going into summer, puts us in a great position.

We only had two runners at Ellerslie yesterday and neither had much luck but both horses won't be far from the winner's circle.  We did however have a big thrill on Friday night when a horse we bred by Saperavi out of La Conga (who is out of one of my favourite mares Bonnie Busker) won in Singapore.

Riedel is raced by me together with John and Tim Rennie and Dennis McNamara and of course our daughter Julia-Rose Ellis.  This is the first horse that she has raced and JR was very excited about him winning his second race in just four starts in Singapore.

From 1 April, prize money in Singapore is going up and a maiden race will be worth $75,000 - not that is not a misprint - a maiden will be worth $75,000!

It is no wonder that horses that we buy label as Singapore bound are selling so quickly - it really amazes me that more breeders are not sending horses to Mark to train in Singapore - they seem perfectly happy to race for a $7000 maiden race when they could run in Singapore for $75,000 but are the first to complain that the breeding business is feeling the pinch.

This year at the sales, I will be looking to buy 2YO and 3YO types that will train on to be Oaks and Derby horses.  Some owners say to me, not to worry about trialling their horse in October and racing in November and instead to concentrate on the autumn 2YO races.  It is not that simple of course - every horse is an individual and we treat each horse as one.

Horses are not machines and I cannot stress enough how crucial it is to have 2YOs that are ready for the early trials.  This puts a small amount of pressure on them early in order to qualify them for those autumn 2YO races and then we spell them giving them time to rest their young bones to further develop and grow in preparation for those future assignments.

Even horses that don't race at two - for them to perform in the spring as 3YOs, many need to have had at least three trials or two trials and a race as a 2YO otherwise the first time they have pressure put on them they go shin sore or they jar up.

I am absolutely delighted with the way that our Riccarton Carnival horses have come through their South Island trip - what a lot of people don't realise is that the trip down there is, in most cases, the makings of the horse providing they have a minimum two week spell when they return home.  This sets them up really well for summer and autumn racing.

Costa Viva, our Group 1 girl, will be one of a nice team of horses that we have for Boxing Day at Ellerslie.  Looking back it is hard to believe that I bought this beautiful filly for just $100,000 and today I would value her at about $1.5 million - when you take into account she has now easily paid for herself and her travel to New Zealand,  is not a bad return.

Chambord, our Group 1 2000 Guineas runner up, is another horse who we are really looking forward to racing again.  I paid $200,000 for him and this last week we were offered huge money for him from Hong Kong but his owners naturally enough are pretty keen to race this very exciting young racehorse by Zabeel out of a Montjeu mare.

Again at the upcoming Karaka Sales, Te Akau will be the sponsor of the entire premier sale television coverage- we believe that having Trackside broadcast the sale is a win for EVERYONE in the industry and it creates enormous interest in racing from people, who are not even involved in racing or breeding.  So many people approach us and tell us how much they enjoy watching the sales is quite incredible.

We have some nice horses to race this week and I am expecting quite a few winners in the tangerine over December.