WOW - Seven Saturday Winners

What a time for Te Akau on Saturday - seven winners.

On home soil, Jamie Richards had three at Ellerslie (including yet another Group 1 double, following on from the previous Saturday), and one at Trentham, while Mark Walker notched at hat-trick in Singapore.

For Richards, who leads the premiership in all facets: wins, prize money, stakes' victories, and strike rate, his Group One double with Cool Aza Beel (Savabeel) and Avantage (Fastnet Rock) at Ellerslie, a week on from Probabeel (Savabeel) and Te Akau Shark (Rip Van Winkle) doing the same at Randwick, Sydney, continues his whirlwind season, while Walker, who cemented his third premiership title at the end of 2019 leads the way again this year.

Why and how are these results being achieved? Well, as has been documented on many occasions, the difference largely begins at sale time when Te Akau principal David Ellis and his team, including Richards, Walker, New Zealand Bloodstock Chairman Joe Walls, and vet Douglas Black, inspect, indentify, and buy young thoroughbreds.

Also, and crucially, the personal and culture Ellis has created in his 40 years as a farmer and bloodstock businessman. He took Walker on after the young man walked up his driveway and presented his CV, and with five trainers' premierships in NZ, and three in Singapore, he has become an internationally acclaimed trainer. Put Mark Walker in any racing jurisdiction, world-wide, and he will work his way to the top. 

Richards, too, arrived under Ellis' wing as a young man (at 24 and still only 30), with a hardened racing family knowledge from the deep-South, and he has flourished in the environment. 

But no matter how good the man, “the horse maketh the man”, which comes back to the original point of buying at the sales, where Ellis has been leading buyer for 15 consecutive years during the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sales Series at Karaka.

“It's one thing buying a yearling, for example, and doing what you can to get everything out of it as a two-year-old and having little left for its future, or nurturing and letting them tell us whether they have the natural ability to run at two,” Ellis said.

“In Australia, so much of their racing focus and prize money is centred round two-year-old racing, largely because they've been breeding for speed for a three decades, whereas we in New Zealand have, wisely, retained stamina in our breed and it continually pays off with our ability to win their classic races. 

“But with that emphasis on pushing two-year-olds, also comes a higher attrition rate. Plenty of them don't exist after their two-year-old season, or another twelve months, and that's not what we're about at Te Akau. We have a kinder and more patient approach.”

Ellis made the point perfectly when referring to two-year-olds Te Akau has trained to win at elite level that have gone on to be better as three, four, and five-year-olds.

Including 2016 when Heroic Valour (Fasnet Rock) won the Sistema Stakes (Gr. 1, 1200m), and a year later when Melody Belle (Commands) won the Sires' Produce Stakes (Gr. 1, 1400m), Te Akau has won seven of the eight Group One races available to two-year-olds.

And, importantly, they have trained on. Melody Belle, now five and current Horse of the Year, has won 10 Group One races, 2018 Sistema winner Sword of Osman (Savabeel) won a Group Two last season as a three-year-old, while 2018 Sires' winner Avantage (Fastnet Rock), now four, secured her fourth Group One win on Saturday at Ellerslie. 

“These results are significant because we're not trying to be a two-year-old stable,” Ellis said. “Every single Champion Two-Year-Old we've had, going back to Maroofity in 2003, have all trained on. Before the Karaka Million was established, King's Chapel won the equivalent race as a two-year-old at Te Rapa, and the following year he went on to become Champion Three-Year-Old, Champion Sprinter/Miler, and Horse of the Year.

“Some of these horses, despite their genetics suggesting they need time and more distance, just put their hands up with natural ability as a two-year-old and they've got the class to pull it off. And then continue to get better with another year or two on them.”

In January, Richards saddled both the $1m Karaka Million race winners at Ellerslie, with Cool Aza Beel (Savabeel) in the Karaka Million (Restricted Listed, 1200m) and Probabeel (Savabeel) in the Karaka Million 3YO Classic (Restricted Listed, 1600m), which also brought about some important stats for Te Akau horses ...

In the last four years there have been ten $1 million races and horses purchased by Ellis have registered six wins and six seconds.

“When I checked those stats I got a bit of a surprise, but it shows that we are buying the right horses and, given time, they are rewarding our owners in the richest races that we have to offer in New Zealand,” Ellis said.

“It's the culmination of a lifetime's effort that has gone into it. It's quite humbling and a thrill to see all these results playing out and something to be really proud of. It's a huge thrill for the owners. They're the ones stumping up the money to buy shares in these horses and the excitement they're getting from it is something to behold. I get such a kick out seeing what it means to them and how happy it makes them feel.”

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