The powerful Te Akau racing team is gearing up for the challenges of the 2018-19 racing season, a season that will see young tyro Jamie Richards take over as head trainer at the Matamata based operation.
Te Akau boss David Ellis took time-out to
answer questions put to him about what he expects from the stable over the next
twelve months:
Q1. It's obviously a time of change for Te Akau with Jamie Richards stepping up to the head trainer role – what qualities do you think he will bring to the role to continue the success the stable has had?
In many ways, Jamie's appointment reminds me of when Mark Walker came to Te Akau - he too was under 30 years of age when I appointed him as sole trainer and his career success speaks for itself.
Jamie brings with him great qualities to this role. He is a super horseman who has the ability to get inside each horse's head and work out how to make each horse happy. One of his greatest strengths is his attention to detail and he has a photographic memory for each horse.
He is a born leader and gets on really well with all staff at all levels. Having the ability to help team members extend themselves and reach their own goals is a true asset and he brings out the best in each person. He is also a great judge of young horses and has been a valuable addition to my sale inspection commitments.
Q2. Jamie often makes mention of the great work of the "team" at Te Akau – do you believe that is the key to how the stable has performed in recent years?
There will be a change at the Te Akau helm however, it's not actually a time of real change. Jamie Richards will be the sole Te Akau trainer but together with an outstanding team, it will be 'business as usual' with plenty of exciting goals for the new season.
We have a team of world class horse people - skilled and experienced professionals who contribute so much to Te Akau's success. It's now over 30 years since I established Te Akau Racing and we have a very strong framework of fundamentals in place, many of those instituted during Mark Walker's time as our New Zealand trainer. Now running Te Akau Singapore, Mark of course won five NZ Premierships and now has two Singapore titles to his name.
Q.3 Have you set Jamie any specific goals for his first year in charge?
I haven't set Jamie any specific goals because he has already done this himself - he is very motivated to see our owners and our horses succeed.
My job is to provide him with the best team and support that money can buy, this includes top track work riders and stable staff plus of course our stable jockey Opie Bosson is a massively important part of the team. Opie first worked in the Te Akau operation when he was just 14 years old. Plus, we have a great administration team behind Jamie, so he can concentrate solely on training our horses.
We are also very lucky to have my wife Karyn who is an enormously important part of the team and already this season she has sold 52 young horses. She, together with me, is really looking forward to the future with Jamie.
Q.4 You have had a top season with your younger horses in particular performing at the highest levels – are they ready to kick on in the new season?
We have a very impressive group of rising two-year-olds that have been educated beautifully. My policy is not to push young horses and put them under unreasonable pressure, rather let them tell us when they are ready to race.
This can be in October, November, December and some we don't even try till the Autumn if they are not quite ready.
The Karaka Million night has been the most successful promotion in my time and we love to have a crack at those million-dollar races.
In the last 18 months there have been five $1million
races in NZ - and Te Akau has really been dominant with horses I am proud to
have selected and purchased. They include (purchase price in brackets);
Melody Belle (NZ) (Commands) – winner of the 2017 Karaka Million ($57,500);
Gingernuts (NZ) (Iffraaj) – winner of the 2017 New Zealand Derby ($42,500);
Avantage (Fastnet Rock) – winner of the 2018 Karaka Million ($210,000) with Al Hasa ($625,000) providing a Te Akau Quinella;
Mongolianconqueror (NZ) (Ocean Park) – runner-up in the 2018 New Zealand Derby ($150,000);
Embellish (NZ) (Savabeel) – runner-up in the 2018 Karaka Million 3YO Classic ($750,000)
Q5. If you had to single out 5-6 horses that you expect big things from this season who would they be and why?
We will have about 50 horses to trial at Te Teko in early August.
The horses I am picking to lead the early charge are Mongolianconqueror, Melody Belle, Age of Fire (Fastnet Rock), Avantage and Sword of Osman (NZ) (Savabeel) but there are plenty of others that we are confident will step up to Group level. The quality of bloodstock that we have in the stable to race in the new season has everyone very excited.
Karyn and I are totally committed to making Jamie Richards a stand-out trainer and we will be buying more yearlings than ever especially at Karaka 2019, from where we have had so much success over the years.
Of the 52 horses we have bought we only have two shares now available in two fillies and interestingly, the final shares to sell last year were in subsequent Group One winners Avantage and Sword of Osman. We have had huge interest from new owners this year and we have welcomed about 130 brand new owners into the team already plus lots of reinvestment from our loyal, existing owners. – NZ Racing Desk
