ABOUT TE RUNGA STUD

Te Runga when translated means "above the water" and was aptly given the name by the O’Connor family, who farmed the Papakura property for over thirty years. In 2000 Wayne and Alison Larsen leased the property from the O’Connor family on the understanding that the name Te Runga would be maintained. A loyal client base has enabled Te Runga to expand and it is currently operating on 120 ha from the home base of Patumahoe. A complete range of services are provided for clients including agistment, foaling, sales prep, walkout breeding services and breaking and pretraining.

A medium term confidence in the outlook for the thoroughbred industry has seen Te Runga expand its broodmare base against the national trend of declining broodmare numbers, whilst at the same time focusing on purchasing stallions who we believe to be best suited to firm turf surfaces, and offering "best value" to our clients.

In an ever increasingly competitive environment internationally, it is with a great deal of satisfaction that we introduced new for 2006, the dual Group One winner Castledale, whose fee of $8,000 plus GST reflects that level of competition. In fact, on reflection, nearly some 20 years ago, I can recall offering to breeders a first season sire who was a Group two and three winner at a similar fee.

New Zealand Racing is becoming increasingly dependent on its major export markets of Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore and it is pleasing that in just ten years of operating we have been able to sell dual Australian Group One winner Eskimo Queen and Hong Kong’s highest rated 3 year old of 2009 Tuscan Spirit. In fact Te Runga had two of its Sales Graduates compete in the 2010 Hong Kong Derby, a significant achievement in a field of only 14 runners that were sourced from all major racing jurisdictions.

With the advent of dual hemisphere stallion ownership, it has become increasingly affordable to offer stallions of the highest quality in terms of racetrack performance and pedigree, and it is my firm belief that with stallions of the calibre of Castledale and Strategic Image, Te Runga and its clients can pursue the dream of Group One excellence.