What a Season - Been & Ahead

Last year the global sports betting group Entain joined in a 25-year partnership with TAB NZ, and a commitment to invest $900 million over the next five years.

Prior to the deal approved by former New Zealand Minister for Racing Kieran McAnulty, the general catch cry among racing aficionados was that stake money required increasing and the industry needed resurgence. 

Across the board now, stakes and initiatives have increased and Entain has been welcomed with open arms into the New Zealand Racing Industry. 

New Zealand Bloodstock (NZB) has joined Entain in boosting prize money and sponsorship through the Pearl Series Scheme, and in conjunction with New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) those three have initiated a $3.5 million The NZB Kiwi slot race, potentially $4.5 million with bonuses. 

The inaugural Summer Bonus Series injected $650,000, $1 million Aotearoa Classic was introduced on Karaka Million night at Ellerslie, the $350,000 Remutaka Classic (Special Conditions, 2100m) during the Cup Carnival at Trentham, and the $350,000 Southern Alps Challenge (1600m) in April at Riccarton, among other new events, and $25 million in stakes' money across 51 black-type races between January – April next year. 

“Entain has been a liferaft to New Zealand racing, by introducing some instrumental changes and providing a platform that can hopefully be sustained and built upon,” said racing author Brian de Lore (theoptimist.site) 

“Racing people have a spring in their step because they’re already benefitting from increased stakes, but the breeding industry will be much slower to respond and recover lost ground. 

“Entain is marketing the product extremely well and increasing the racing audience. They have opened the door for new people to enter the business and embrace the excitement of racing.

“However, our future success is still reliant upon the quality of thoroughbreds produced in numbers high enough to sustain domestic racing and keep a healthy export market alive. 

“We need owners incentivised enough to enter the broodmare market and start breeding their own. Perhaps micro-ownership in breeding syndicates, encouraged by better tax relief, is the way of the future. But doing nothing is certainly not an option.”

Like many aware of the positive outlook for racing, Te Akau principal David Ellis CNZM has taken certain measures to increase the involvement of Te Akau Racing.

The leading buyer of yearlings for the past 19 years at Karaka, Ellis spent $22 million purchasing 60 yearlings this year at sales throughout Australasia, and the world-class syndicator has almost sold the shares in all of them.

Although the job is never easy in selecting, buying, and selling horses, Ellis and his team have an incredible work ethic and the backing of loyal owners who understand and love being involved in the success of Te Akau Racing.

Te Akau has won 14 training premierships, set a hard-to-beat domestic record of 203 wins last season, recently had back-to-back dual Horse of the Year winners Melody Belle (Commands) and Probabeel (Savabeel), and in June this year sold 10-time Group One winner Imperatriz (I Am Invincible) for A$6.6 million to become the highest priced filly or mare ever sold in the Southern Hemisphere.

Imperatriz won 19 of her 27 starts and nearly NZ$7.6 million in prize money. For the lucky syndicate owners, they turned $360,000 into more than $14.5 million – like winning the lottery.

Ellis has purchased 39 individual Group One winners; the stable has trained winners of 98 Group One races, and with a history dating back to 1988 has accumulated over 2600 wins including more than 380 stakes wins.

“David Ellis, Karyn Fenton-Ellis and Te Akau Racing have done a remarkable service for New Zealand racing over a long period, and as each year has passed the tangerine and blue army has grown and become an increasingly important component of the industry,” de Lore said. 

“To think that David bought his first yearling at the sales in 1984, has bought every year since, and has been the leading buyer at the National Sale for 19 consecutive years through two recessions and COVID-19 is a remarkable effort.”

This season, the Te Akau New Zealand training partnership of Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson leads the premiership with 169 wins, surpassing what was a NZ record second highest season tally (160) by the stable in 2020/21, and the 63 wins from their base at Riccarton sees them also as leading South Island trainers.

With the fastest growing racing jurisdiction in the world just across the Tasman Sea in Australia, this season Te Akau set up a training base at the world-class centre in Cranbourne (Victoria) in September, where Mark Walker has won 24 races, including nine stakes' wins (five at Group One level), and has the best Metropolitan strike rate (4.1) with 15 wins from 62 starts.

Te Akau trained horses have accumulated over $8 million in stakes this season in New Zealand, with an additional A$6.8 million in Australia.  Adding in the Singapore stable, that's well over $16 million won for Te Akau owners this season - a remarkable achievement.

“The Te Akau horses have flown the New Zealand flag brilliantly in Australia, especially in recent years. You can’t buy better publicity in racing than winning Group one races, and Te Akau has done a great job in that respect,” de Lore added.

In the Thoroughbred Racing Commentary Global Rankings (TRC), akin to the ATP Tennis Tour Rankings, or PGA Golf Tour Rankings, Te Akau is seventh in Owner Rankings, headed by Godolphin, owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and the first syndication business with those above being privately owned. 

Ranking highly amongst such esteemed company worldwide may lead to some of the individual owners within Te Akau Syndicates in line for the NZ Owners Premiership and Owner of the Year. 

In the TRC Trainer Rankings, Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson are among the top 20, currently 19th, and fifth highest in Australasia, behind the biggest stables in Australia: James Cummings, Chris Waller, Ciaron Maher, and Gai Waterhouse/Adrian Bott.

The TRC Global Rankings are the measure of achievement over a rolling three-year period, based not on prize money but the quality of performances by horses in Group and Graded races, while Owner rankings, such as Te Akau Syndicates, depends entirely on how well their representatives have been performing at Group level.