recent penalty submission rant
Respondents submissions
[11] Mr C Kennett commenced his penalty submission by stating in the harness industry a person was guilty as soon as the RIU charge a person, which he alleged was “corruption”. He believed the RIU case was based “on a … vet's testimony whom I have had a major argument with in the past. I knew he would get me one day being a race course vet.”
[12] Mr Kennett then stated he was “leaving the corrupt industry and at this point in time I will not be making any submissions on anything because I do not acknowledge anyone's authority over me other than the actual law in NZ, the police and any other NZ law enforcement agencies that my tax goes towards funding to protect the citizens of New Zealand…. I am honest and no criminal. Not the racing industry, which is just an expensive sport controlled by people who are not one bit legally qualified to run it as a higher entity than it really is, which is an amateur sports body. HRNZ and the RIU and the JCA do not pay us wages. It is an amateur sport run by amateurs with no professional qualifications to hold their positions, that makes up its own rules to just squeeze money out of everyone as a means of taxation….”
[13] Mr Kennett stated that he and his son “love our horses and do not harm them. They wouldn't win us races either if we treated them as the RIU and their crony vets like Gillespie imply we do.”
[14] Mr Kennett also believed he was being harassed by HRNZ because he posted on a closed owners’ Facebook page. He had questioned why the RIU did not test all winners. He also questioned why some time in the past Josh Kennett and himself had been required to put VALMAGNE in the names of caretaker trainers at Cambridge even though he was there as the official trainer with the horse and was doing everything with him. This was not in the rules. It was simply harassment.
[15] Mr Kennett referred to his “indiscretions with the Rules regarding drivers being urine tested”. He said he had paid the price for these, being fined $400 twice, along with 9-month and 10-month suspensions.
[16] Mr Kennett concluded his email by stating, “I get my back up when I am treated unfairly by anyone and I especially get my back up with this lot who have massive egos and who have pushed me out of the game.”
[17] We have considered all of Mr C Kennett’s penalty submission. Those parts of his email that are a personal attack on a member of the RIU we do not repeat in this decision.
[18] Mr J Kennett’s email is brief. He recounts his disillusionment with the harness racing industry and the fact that he has listed his horses for sale online. He also states that he intends to send his licence in the mail to HRNZ.
