The Country 02/06/26: Sir David Ellis talks to Jamie Mackay

Arise, Sir David, Principal of the Te Akau Stud, for services to the thoroughbred industry and philanthropy.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
It was great to see so many in the agriculture
and primary sector recognized in the King's Birthday honors list
over the weekend. Let's kick the show off with the
bloke who got the biggest gong. He is now Sir
David Charles Ellis David Alice from ti RKL stud and David.
The good thing about you is you've sort of upsized

(00:23):
your gong. You were a companion of the New Zealand
Order of Merit in twenty twenty. You've upsized that to
a night companion. So you are Sir David for services
to the thoroughbred industry and philanthropy. Congratulations, well deserved.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Oh thank you very much, Jamie. Yet an honor that
I really received for the whole team that works with me,
people that have been with me for a lifetime, and
there's many parts to it. There's my wife, who is
a very important part of the business, and there's people

(00:58):
like Mark Walker who has worked for me since the
day left school, and many people like that that have
helped make Tiakaw Racing for success that it's been. So
it's certainly not just about me. It's about a great
team that we.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Have talk to me about the origins of the TRKL
stud well.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
In nineteen seventy nine, I applied for a rural bank
loan to buy five hundred acres in the Wimi Valley,
which is just the next valley north of Tiakow and
I bought this farm for two hundred and fifteen thousand
dollars and the bank manager that was with the rural

(01:43):
bank was a chap called Glenn Holmes, and Glenn came
out and interviewed me, and on the way home, I
thought to myself, if this guy gets us loan for
me for my first farm, I'll love him for the
rest of my life. Well, he got the loan and
we've become great mates.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
So was the loan to set up a horse stud
or was it to farm other animy much.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
A sheet and cattle farm.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, so was the at that stage. Was the horse
racing just a side interest?

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yes it was. And it wasn't until nineteen eighty three,
four years later that I bought Tiakaastad. In those days,
wool prices were six dollars fifty akilo and last year
dollar fifty, this year four dollars, so it's heading in

(02:38):
the right direction. But Will was one of the biggest
money earners in my early days and certainly paid for
all the fertilizer and that sort of thing.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
So, as we all know, and I know from personal experience,
farming in the second half of the eighties was a
bit of a tough gig under Roger nomics. Did the
horse racing stud save your bay?

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Probably not. I was just getting into it in a
very early stage, went through some very tough times financially,
had children at boarding school, had you know, the horses
that I couldn't sell. Farm prices were just average and interests.
I was paying twenty three percent interest, and a lot

(03:25):
of people say to me today, oh, that just wouldn't
be right. Well, I tell you it was right.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
I know there's plenty of farmers no exactly that it
was right. What was the tipping point or what did
one horse make you?

Speaker 2 (03:39):
It was a number of factors. I've had an early
horse called Distinctly Secret that I bred and I owned
myself in the early stages, and he would have won
a million dollars in prize money in the early nineties,

(04:00):
late nineties. So that was you know, there's a lot
of horses that have great affection with me. For different reasons,
and that reason for that horse was because he was
such a great help to me at a time when
I really needed the money.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
Horse racing or owning a race horse is not for
the faint hearted, and I can tell you that from
personal experience, as a young bloke named Lashes who used
to work with me got me into a horse. I
don't know where the horse is now. It might be
in a can somewhere, David. But for everyone who's bought
a race horse, there is probably not a great percentage
of them who I wants or am I being a
bit skeptical there.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
I don't think they could be with TRK racing if
that was the case.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
I know you beg into syndication of horses. I told
my sob story on the radio a few months ago,
and you sent me a text. You were kind enough
to say you had a real winner of a horse
at Tiakau once a bit and twice shy. I didn't
take you up. Should I have?

Speaker 2 (04:58):
Well it looks like you should have.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Sure it's been a winner.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
No, hasn't raced yet, but it looks like being one
of the best horses we've got.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Well, maybe you and I might have to have a
word about that one at Field Days if there's still
an opportunity. Hey, just before I let you go, not
only did you get your night Companion of the Order
of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to
the thoroughbred industry, also philanthropy. Tell me about some of
the stuff you've done, because I know your generosity is legendary.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Well, we like to keep it under the radar, but
we're patrons of the Equi Potential, which is the old
riding for the disabled in Hamilton. There's lots of things
that we like doing, and we like putting back into
society and helping people that aren't so fortunate. Karen and

(05:53):
I enjoy doing that, and we also have a great
deal of love for helping young people that want to
really work hard and give us their heart and soul.
And we've got the best team around us that you
could ever imagine.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
Haven't you got the New Zealand Young Farmer of the Year,
the current one as your next door neighbor.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Pretty much our next door neighbor. He's just down the road,
Hugh Jackson, and he's an absolute champion young bloke doing
a fantastic job of running his farm and the Jackson
family are just legendary.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
One of them works for you is Mum works for you.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
She runs my office, she's our business manager. And I
wouldn't My life wouldn't be worth living without her. She's
just the most amazing person you'd ever meet.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
Sir David Ellis from the Tiak I'll stud a night
companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Thank you
so much for your time. Looking forward to meeting you
in person at Field Days.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
Thank you very much. Jamie