Te Akau Weekend Update

David writes:

Well it's been a pretty eventful, exciting and busy few days in the Waikato.

On Thursday Mark Walker, Jason Bridgman and I went to Waikato Stud and inspected its draft of yearlings for Karaka - we were unbelievably impressed with the line up.  It certainly makes a massive difference when a stud commits all of its yearlings to Karaka.  It is helpful that the buyer is not continually thinking "what is really left that this breeder/stud is taking to an Australian sale?" and it gives you the confidence to bid, knowing that you really are looking at their best horses.

We went to Mark and Lisa Chittick's home for a beautiful dinner and stayed the night at Waikato Stud.  It really is a sensational property and we enjoyed having a look around the farm with Mark Chittick.  It was also good to catch up with the former Te Akau Group 1 winner Rock 'n' Pop (pictured above and below) who has just finished his first season at stud at Waikato.

On Friday morning Mark Walker was up bright and early and went to the Matamata track to watch all the Te Akau horses work and to see all his friends - and then it was off to Mark Brooks' property at  Cambridge (Ken and Ann Brown's former property) where we looked at a number of horses he is preparing for us for Singapore. We were really thrilled with job he is doing for us.

Then we headed back on the yearling inspection trail and next stop was Trelawney Stud to inspect its draft.  After looking at a nice team of yearlings we went and had lunch with Trelawney owners Brent and Cherry Taylor.  They had also invited a number of leading breeders and Wayne Smith.   I sat next to Wayne at lunch and he told me that he had coached the All Blacks for over 120 tests.  He is currently the back coach and is very much involved with the Chiefs rugby team.

It was fascinating hearing Wayne's stories about how they prepare these young sportsmen for professional rugby today - as against his time when he was a first five eight for the All Blacks.  He gave an insight into the current All Black team and where he saw the team going in the next 12 months as it gets ready for the next World Cup in two years' time.

One thing became obvious during our chat and that is how fortunate our country is to be performing at the very top of the international rugby scene.  You can see one of the reasons for that is clearly the quality of the coaching and management personnel that our country is blessed with and Wayne Smith is certainly a good example of this.

Friday night we were back home at Te Akau Stud and Julia Rose our daughter came down from Auckland to stay with us and to go to the Waikato Racing Club's meeting to support her mother for her first Cup Day as Chairman of the Club.  Mark was watching all the Singapore races for most of the night - one of the few nights we didn't have a win.

Saturday morning and Karyn was off early to present The First Call before going to Te Rapa.  Mark, daughter Julia, Robyn our Administration Manager and I went in before the first race and what a great day it was.

Karyn and the Board and the management of the Waikato Racing Club put on a truly remarkable Cup day - seldom have I seen so many people having so much fun.  It was a huge and very well behaved crowd who really enjoyed themselves!  There was also terrific racing with four black type races and the track was in pristine condition, a real credit to the Club and its track manager Neil Treweek.

This morning Julia left early as she has to work at the Ellerslie races as part of her marketing role for the Auckland Racing Club.  This morning we have visitors coming to be shown around the stud and owners coming this afternoon and then Mark and I will be opening the bar at about 5pm and we will be watching the races from Ellerslie and then the final night of the season for Singapore.  We have some nice chances at Ellerslie in particular.

Going into tonight's final meeting for the season in Singapore, Mark has had 72 wins and 89 seconds and is second on the Trainers' Premiership.  This is an absolute credit to him - a huge result with nearly $4.5 million in prize money won for our owners - by an operation that is really humming.

We only have two days of yearling inspections this week, visiting Curraghmore Stud and Phoenix Park on Tuesday and Pencarrow Stud on Friday. This way I will get a good chance to catch up on the work on the farm and in the office!