Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Olympics
Football
Netball
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Basketball
Tennis
Other Sports
Sport Nation
FIFA World Cup 2026 posterTe Akau Racing founder knighted in King's Birthday Honours
NZ Racing Desk • June 1st, 2026 8:40 am
Sir David Ellis | Photo: Supplied
Te Akau Racing’s founder and principal, David Ellis, has been appointed a Knight Companion (KNZM) of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2026 King's Birthday Honours, in recognition of his services to Thoroughbred Racing and Philanthropy.
This recognition acknowledges a lifetime dedicated to thoroughbred racing, philanthropy, farming, and service to the New Zealand community. It is a distinction that Sir David and his wife, Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM, now Lady Karyn Ellis, and family, feel deeply humbled by.
While today's announcement recognises Sir David's individual contribution, it also reflects the commitment, loyalty and support of Te Akau's owners, staff, industry colleagues, and the wider community who have all contributed significantly to this special journey.
For more than four decades, David Ellis has dedicated his life to an industry that has been his profession, but always his absolute passion. With the thoroughbred at heart, he has helped shape New Zealand thoroughbred racing into a globally respected force through the success of his Te Akau operation. In doing so, he has created opportunities for thousands of owners, staff, trainers, jockeys, breeders and racing enthusiasts along the way.
This knighthood follows a remarkable list of achievements and lifelong honours, including being appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in 2020, receiving the Outstanding Contribution to Racing Award at the Horse of the Year Awards in 2017, and being inducted into the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame in 2025.
However statistics and accolades alone do not fully explain the significance of David Ellis' contribution.
His story begins long before premierships, Group One victories and international success. As a 17-year-old standing at Ellerslie on Easter Monday in 1971, David watched future Melbourne Cup winner Silver Knight win the Great Northern St Leger. It was a moment that ignited a fascination with horses and racing that would shape the rest of his life.
His first winner came in 1978 with a filly named Magnum, who won her third start at Paeroa before later winning at Ellerslie. Four years later, David attended his first New Zealand National Yearling Sale in 1982. That was the beginning of a remarkable journey.
Forty-three consecutive yearling sales later, he has become the most prolific purchaser of thoroughbreds in Australasian history, investing more than $150 million in New Zealand yearlings alone and establishing himself as one of the world's leading judges of thoroughbred talent.
From modest beginnings, he worked numerous jobs, including pouring petrol on his days off, to save enough money to buy his first farm, a purchase that would ultimately lead him to Te Akau. His passion for bloodstock, as well as livestock, has seen Te Akau Stud become one of New Zealand's premier thoroughbred and agricultural properties.That establishment ofTe Akau Racing at Matamata, creating what has become the most successful racing operation in New Zealand history, was also driven by that same passion. Today Te Akau has operations in Matamata, Christchurch and Cranbourne in Australia, and previously in Singapore.
Te Akau has won 16 New Zealand Trainers' Premierships, four Singapore Trainers' Premierships, 12 New Zealand Champion Trainer of the Year titles and four Singapore Champion Trainer of the Year titles. Te Akau-trained horses have won 429 stakes' races, including 106 Group One victories, while the stable now sits on 2,938 domestic wins and continues its march towards the extraordinary milestone of 3,000 New Zealand winners.
The stable has trained 14 winners of the Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas and New Zealand 1000 Guineas across the past 21 years, eight Karaka Million 2YO winners, including seven consecutive winners between 2017 and 2023, and remains the only stable to complete the Karaka Million 2YO and Karaka Million 3YO double in the same season, achieving the feat in 2020, 2022 and again in 2025.
Since 2017, Te Akau horses have won 34 stakes' races in Australia, including 15 Group One victories. This is the result of the vision and raw commitment that David Ellis has invested into the industry and its people over many years. Yet for those who know David best, the numbers only tell part of the story.
David Ellis' story wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging the contribution of his wife and successful racing administrator in her own right, Karyn. The combination of their shared passion has seen Te Akau grow into what it is today, with their love of the industry clear to all who know them.
Former New Zealand Bloodstock Chairman Joe Walls MNZM believes David Ellis' greatest contribution may ultimately be measured not in races won, but in people developed:
"David so deserves this honour, for many reasons," Walls said.
"One is that he created and graduated an entire university of racing people, and many of them have gone on to be very successful in their respective racing careers."
Over the years, Te Akau has become a launching pad for some of the most respected names in the industry.
"Champion trainer Mark Walker has had an illustrious training career, employed straight from school by David. Another recent example is Jamie Richards, a young trainer who is now making his path in Hong Kong," Walls said.
"Opie Bosson is another of his great proteges, while Sam Bergerson, Reece Trumper, Hunter Durrant and Ben Gleeson are further examples of the generations of fine young leaders honing their training craft under the Te Akau banner."
The success of those individuals is something David speaks about with as much pride as any Group One victory.
Few organisations in racing can point to a record of developing people quite like Te Akau - former stable apprentices including Daniel Stackhouse, Michael Dee, Samantha Collett and many more. It is a philosophy that David has always championed, and he has always wanted to give young industry talent the opportunity to thrive and develop. That philosophy continues today.
David celebrated his first Group One victory when Cosmetique won the Easter Handicap at Ellerslie in 1986. Few could have imagined at the time that it would become the first of more than 100 Group One victories.
Since then, generations of champions have flown the Te Akau tangerine flag at the highest level - such as multiple Group One winners Melody Belle, Avantage, Probabeel, Darci Brahma and Imperatriz, while countless other elite performers have helped to establish Te Akau among the Australasia's leading racing operations.
Another achievement has been his remarkable success in identifying future stallions, with horses such as Darci Brahma, Burgundy, Embellish, Xtravagant, Sword Of State, Cool Aza Beel, Noverre, Move To Strike and Return To Conquer all helping shape future generations of Australasian thoroughbreds.
Australian Hall of Fame trainer Gai Waterhouse's first Group One winner came courtesy of Te Akau Nick, a horse purchased by David and later entrusted to the legendary Australian trainer. That victory in the Gr.1 Metropolitan Handicap was not only a defining moment in Gai's career, but also one that helped fuel David's belief that New Zealand horses, New Zealand people and New Zealand racing could stand proudly on the world stage.
Walls believes his contribution extends far beyond the success of his own business.
"David almost single-handedly held the New Zealand National Yearling Sales together over the last 20-plus years, and I was there to see it all happen; without him, it would have been in a sorry state.
"There has been no one like him on the buying bench at the sales over the past 40 years.
"Through COVID, he practically held the sale together on his own. David kept buying horses even when I thought there was no need, but he was driven to do so."
Those comments underline David Ellis' unwavering commitment to the New Zealand breeding industry and his belief in its future. Whether supporting breeders, investing at the sales, serving voluntarily on industry boards or promoting New Zealand-bred horses internationally, his influence has extended well beyond Te Akau's own success.
Over the years David has served on the board of the Waikato Racing Club, including five years as Chairman, earning Life Membership in recognition of his contribution. He also served on the board of the New Zealand Racing Conference during its transition to New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing and on the board of New Zealand Thoroughbred Marketing. Beyond racing, David's contributions to farming and philanthropy have also been significant. He and Karyn contribute to numerous community initiatives and charities and serve as proud Patrons of EquiPotential.
Walls reflected on the scale of that achievement.
"Those of us who have closely observed the growth of Te Akau Racing didn't realise just how significant and important David's dedication to the thoroughbred industry would become, and how he could sustain the positive impact for so long and create such an impressive legacy,” he said.
"He has done a hell of a lot of good things for the industry, and a lot also outside of racing, and he has done a lot for farming, building his farm up from nothing - creating a model farm from meagre beginnings - he wasn't born into it and did it all on his own from scratch."
Today, Te Akau Stud stands as one of New Zealand's premier farming and breeding properties.
As we, the racing industry and New Zealand as a whole, celebrate Sir David Ellis and this richly deserved honour, it is difficult not to reflect on the extraordinary journey that has brought him to this moment.
From a young man captivated by horses at Ellerslie, to a Hall of Fame inductee, and now a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, David Ellis' story is one of vision, determination, resilience and an unwavering love of thoroughbred racing.
His knighthood recognises not only what he has achieved, but what he has given back to the industry that he has spent a lifetime believing in.
Sir David Ellis appeared on Sport Nation following the news - listen to the interview below:
