The Te Akau Juggernaut marches on...

[Murray Fish]

 

Te Akau’s Australian ambition is only just getting started

By Matt Stewart - November 22, 2024

Te Akau has already made a major mark on Australian racing in the 18 months since setting up base at Cranbourne. But David Ellis’ Australian plan is far from realised, writes Matt Stewart.

David Ellis, Ben Gleeson and Mark Walker, the three key men behind Te Akau's Australian operation, alongside Xavier Walker. (Photo by Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images)

It was lunchtime on June 20, 2023 and Ben Gleeson had sweaty palms as he sat at a table for two at France-Soir, a swanky restaurant in Toorak Road.

For the 29-year-old, this might prove the lunch of a lifetime.

Gleeson had chosen the restaurant and by the time the souffle arrived for dessert, Mark Walker had chosen Gleeson as the frontman for Te Akau Racing’s inevitable entry into Australian racing.

Gleeson had hoped that the entre of his strong CV and main course of the perfect steak might nudge Walker over the line and secure him a coveted gig.

Te Akau was elite. They’d had more champions or near-champions than many far bigger Australian outfits. Between 2017 and 2023, Te Akau-trained horses won every edition of the rich Karaka Million while bombing Australian carnivals with stars like Probabeel, Melody Belle and Avantage. Before them, it was Te Akau Nick, Distinctly Secret, Princess Coup and Darci Brahma.

The tangerine team has deep pockets and paid a ready-to-run record $1.65 million for an I Am Invincible colt in New Zealand on Wednesday. It has long been the biggest New Zealand buyer at the annual Karaka Yearling Sale.

In May this year, Te Akau sold its champion mare Imperatriz for an Australasian record $6.6 million at a Gold Coast broodmare sale.

Te Akau and its founder David Ellis was a famous New Zealand success story. Ellis took $12 to the Ellerslie races in 1971 and walked out with $84. Beginner’s luck on the punt would focus his ambitions on thoroughbreds instead of cattle and sheep.

By 2023, Ellis had built a racing empire that required one more giant leap; a deep footprint into Australia.

This would be his greatest challenge.

Te Akau pulls out all stops for record-breaking $1.65 million colt at Karaka

Newcomers to the training ranks would now be confronted with the unprecedented dominance of Ciaron Maher and Chris Waller, two of 3600 licensed trainers.

Te Akau’s Australian operation would have to be carefully constructed.

Ellis’ business partner and Te Akau’s head trainer Walker sat across from Gleeson at France-Soir and considered both the applicant and the menu.

Gleeson had done his due diligence, gleaning a great deal about Walker’s training and a little about his diet.

“Mark loves a steak,” Gleeson said.

“He ordered a nice steak and some beers straight away and I felt I could relax a little. We were there for probably two hours. He wanted to know my journey and me his. We spoke about the business of running a Cranbourne stable and I knew in my heart straight away that this was the place I wanted to be.”

Ellis was a start-up success story like few others.

In the Easter of 1971 he was studying farm agriculture and working three jobs – at the freezer work and as a house painter and petrol station attendant.

He saved and saved and in 1979 bought 575 acres in the Waimai Valley. He later bought surrounding farmland and created Te Akau Stud. He bought his first horse in 1983 and syndicated them under Te Akau Racing.

David Ellis (right) alongside Coolmore Australia principal Tom Magnier. (Photo: Magic Millions).

Walker was a young trainer who’d walked up Ellis’ driveway and asked for a job. Ellis took a punt on the quietly spoken youngster and by 2010, Walker had won five New Zealand premierships for Te Akau, which the following January opened a satellite stable in Singapore. Walker relocated and won four premierships.

The impending closure of Singapore racing and the departure of Te Akau’s champion young Kiwi trainer Jamie Richards to Hong Kong paved the way for Walker’s return. Last year, another young, emerging horseman, Sam Bergerson joined Walker as co-trainer for the New Zealand operation.  

“I knew the story of Mark walking up David’s driveway looking for a job and I knew that David was great at giving young people an opportunity,” Gleeson said. “I had nothing to lose.”

Gleeson had been raised on a horse farm near Seymour, worked for trainers Lee and Shannon Hope as a teenager, studied business management at Uni, had been a stable-hand for Peter Moody (Dave Eustace was his immediate boss), rode out at Newmarket as a foreman for Hugo Palmer and spent five years with Danny O’Brien at Flemington.

“I knew the story of Mark walking up David’s driveway looking for a job and I knew that David was great at giving young people an opportunity." - Ben Gleeson

Mate Calvin McEvoy nudged Gleeson to email Ellis. Renowned bloodstock man Henry Plumptre, in charge of Cambridge Stud, put in a good word for him.

“The email was short and simple. I told David that I felt ready to train and would love to be part of Te Akau,” he said.

“Within 24 hours I’d got a call from Mark. He told me they were opening a stable at Cranbourne. Next thing you know, we are at France-Soir planning the Cranbourne operation. I really felt Mark and I clicked.”

Te Akau had two stables in New Zealand and Ellis felt an Australian base would take the business “to the next level”.

Speaking from Karaka on Wednesday just after Te Akau paid $1.65 million for the I Am Invincible colt, Ellis said the team under Gleeson would be the shop window for Te Akau.

“I went all around the training centres and we concluded that Cranbourne was head and shoulders above the rest and would be the place we would launch the operation,” he said.

Ben Gleeson and Mark Walker have quickly formed a strong understanding, despite often being on opposite sides of the Tasman. (Photo by Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images)

Perceptions that Te Akau was a private stable had been hard to shake. Ellis’ high profile as syndicate head had made it seem that way.

But the big studs and owners moved Te Akau’s way. Thirty boxes at Cranbourne will become 70 in the next fortnight when the new barn is completed.

Ellis said Walker had been with him “since the day he left school” and looked forward to Gleeson’s development.

“Ben is very well regarded in Australia and has been a big help in setting up the business. We have the best work riders, the best staff,” Ellis said.

Gleeson had underestimated the breadth of the role.

“At times I felt I was juggling eight balls in the air. I had to start a business from scratch, from staff applications to Racing Victoria, to acquiring treadmills, sourcing feeds, gear, machinery,” he said.

“It sort of blew my mind but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I feel I know every corner of the business. I have to admit I didn’t realise I had it in me.”

Gleeson sought out trusted former Moody workmate Jason Levin as foreman. Staff gravitated to a stable that Gleeson says operated on a “happy staff, happy horse” mantra.

On virtually the same day Levin arrived, so did Imperatriz. It was August 2023.

Walker had been impressed with Gleeson’s results at Cranbourne and quickly afforded him a degree of autonomy. Gleeson’s fingerprints were all over Imperatriz as she charged through the spring of 2023 and the autumn of 2024.

“Mark is a remarkable trainer. I picked up a few things along the way too and I find we have very fruitful discussions about how we want the horses trained. I listen a great deal to him but he’s allowed strong input from me,” Gleeson said.

Ellis described Imperatriz as “an amazing horse who came along at a very important time for us” and Gleeson said such rare horses “were the reason people like me want to train”.

Imperatriz had trialled poorly at Cranbourne a fortnight before she was to resume in the Black Caviar Lightning in February this year.

There were sleepless nights.

“I was a bit worried. Mark just says trust what you see and that she’s a race-day mare,” Gleeson said.

“She had a body that wasn’t easy to manage. We had two weeks to figure our way through it. We grew in confidence. Driving to Flemington Mark asked 'what’s your gut feel?'

"I said 'I think she will win'. She did, brilliantly."

Imperatriz was sold for $6.6 million at the end of her brilliant racing career. (Photo: Vince Caliguri/Getty Images)

Imperatriz has left the stable and Blake Shinn has wandered into it. Shinn rode track and trials for Te Akau in New Zealand last week and will be seen regularly in the famous tangerine.

Like Imperatriz, Shinn is good for the brand. He believes Te Akau will become a giant slayer.

“If they can emulate in Australia what they’ve done in New Zealand they will be huge,” Shinn said. “They’ve already done it here with Imperatriz and other horses. You can see where they’re heading.

“I spent some time with David in New Zealand and learned a lot about him and his vision. In two years’ time people will be saying 'wow, where did they come from?'”