Te Akau Tuesday Update

David writes:

What an exciting time of the year it is!

The festive feeling is very much alive here at Te Akau, bur for us it's not just about Christmas Day.  We have Christmas racing to look forward to on Boxing Day at Ellerslie and Awapuni, as well as Wingatui in the South and of course, Bright Blue Sky at Doomben in Queensland. Then the hectic time of the year starts really winding up with multiple race meetings across the New Year.  It's a very busy time for our team.

My Christmas present came early last week - we had 120ml of rain fall here at Te Akau Stud. That is just such a thrill, especially for this time of the year when it is usually so dry - the stock is thriving!

I was recently talking to John Kelly from Newhaven Park in Australia where Cool Aza Beel and Xtravagant stand at stud. I consider John to be one of the best farmers that I have seen, and he told me that he is getting $9.50 per kilo for prime beef - that is a third more than what we are getting in New Zealand! I don't quite understand how that works but the Australian farmers are certainly doing very well at the moment with that price.

In New Zealand the freezing works are having a difficult battle both with trying to find staff and also trying to source sufficient refrigerated containers to chill the beef down once the cattle have been processed. This is causing delays for all of us who are wanting to send in units of cattle in - it is a frustrating time to be a New Zealand farmer and these are just some of the side effects of Covid that are seldom covered in the general media!

Today on the farm, we were busy drenching and dipping all our lambs while tomorrow we are going to do the same with our mixed age ewes. They are in terrific condition this year after a really good growing season. There has been plenty grass, and the weather has really played its part.

It is an exciting time to be a part of Te Akau Racing. Last week we announced that Jamie Richards had been invited to train at the Hong Kong Jockey Club - that's a great achievement and a huge testament to his talent and dedication to the job.

To have Mark Walker, a trainer who needs very little introduction, coming home to New Zealand and returning to Te Akau when Jamie leaves for Hong Kong is as bigger thrill as we could all have. We are very excited to welcome Mark, his partner Mirka and their daughter Skyler home in the New Year.

Our Singapore stable is going to remain in place and our very good friend Donna Logan will be taking over the team once Mark returns home. Donna is a legend in her own right - she has trained Group 1 winners in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. She is a top-class horsewoman, and it is great to have her and partner Pete in the team.

At Te Akau Stud we have started breaking in our homebred yearlings and wow, we have got some really lovely yearlings to train from the farm this year, including our first crop by Embellish. They are looking like real powerhouses. I just love seeing the yearlings working around the farm, as you can imagine what they are going to look like on the racetrack in the very near future.

Our breaking team, headed by Stephanie Hyde-Richards, does a tremendous job and we will be buying some beautiful yearlings at the sales in 2022 to keep them busy!

Today at Ellerslie, we won all the 2YO trials. In fact, we trifected all three of the heats. It was a great effort and I am really excited with the youngsters that we have got coming through the stables. They have been a little bit slower to mature and come through in comparison to recent years but they are really starting to hit their straps now!!  Watch this space, the tangerine babies are getting serious!

Karyn and I both would like to wish all our owners and supporters a very Merry Christmas. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our owners for the incredible support that they have given us this year - we wish you all the most prosperous and successful start to 2022!

Best of luck to all our owners who have runners over the festive period - Karyn and I are really looking forward to the Boxing Day and New Year's Day races. We will have a very exciting team racing across both days and be sure to come and say hello if you see us there. It is going to be so fantastic returning to Ellerslie - I am really looking forward to it.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you all at the races soon.

GO THE TANGERINE!!