Davis Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 This is a sad case. Horse owner stands by troubled young trainer with 'terrible addiction' Martin Van Beynen 05:00, Dec 24 2020 Harness racehorse trainer Mitchell Kerr handed in his training licence earlier this month. Prominent harness racehorse owner Keith Ovens is sticking with troubled young trainer Mitchell Kerr, who he says has a “terrible addiction disease”. Kerr, one of the country’s most promising young trainers, handed in his licence earlier this month, as the Racing Integrity Unit (RIU) began an investigation into his conduct. The raft of allegations suggest Kerr, 28, over-syndicated horses and charged for non-existent insurance policies. Ovens, who is prominent in New Zealand's merino industry and has been aligned with the Kerr family for many years, confirmed he was the owner most affected “in all this”. “And helping his amazing parents who are sticking by him even though their lives have been destroyed by their son’s disease as well. Trainer Paul Kerr celebrates with his son, Mitchell, after Pay Me Christian won the NRM Sire's Stakes Series final at Addington in 2005. “I have raced horses with Paul (Mitchell's father) for 35 years, and he is a dedicated, talented, respectful person, trainer and father.” Ovens suggested the media coverage so far contained a number of mistakes but did not say what they were. “Let’s see what the RIU and Police do with the actual facts.” Paul Kerr, who has taken over several of the horses his son was training, also responded to a story published earlier this week. He said the claim about his son having a large gambling debt in Australia was false. “There is no way you can bet on tick,” he said. He did not respond to a request for the “full truth”. Stuff has since clarified that Mitchell Kerr has a large debt, believed to be hundreds of thousands of dollars, as a result of his gambling. The concerns under investigation by the RIU relate partly to Kerr over-selling shares in horses he bought to train and race. The process of a trainer putting together a syndicate to own a horse and pay its expenses is not unusual. But Kerr, according to allegations made to the RIU, sometimes sold shares in horses, in some cases equal to almost twice their value. This is called over-syndicating. Syndicate owners have therefore found that instead of owning 20 per cent of a horse they actually own only 10 per cent. The RIU is also investigating owners being charged insurance premiums for non-existent insurance policies over horses, and a situation where Kerr allegedly sold a non-existent horse to an Australian buyer and charged for its training expenses. Kerr – who already has 87 wins to his credit and has won nearly $900,000 in stake money in his three-year training career – handed in his training licence to Harness Racing New Zealand earlier this month. His father Paul, a veteran licensed trainer based in Ohoka, North Canterbury, who is now employing Mitchell. He has previously said the allegations against his son were only rumours and hung up when called on Monday. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Stipe Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 18 minutes ago, Davis said: Stuff has since clarified that Mitchell Kerr has a large debt, believed to be hundreds of thousands of dollars, as a result of his gambling. "Clarified" how? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davis Posted December 23, 2020 Author Share Posted December 23, 2020 46 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said: "Clarified" how? I don't know. Probably an industry source that squeals to von Baynon at any opportunity. Why don't you call von Beynon and ask him? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Major Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 1 hour ago, Davis said: I don't know. Probably an industry source that squeals to von Baynon at any opportunity. Why don't you call von Beynon and ask him? I wonder who was stupid enough to put $20,000 to win on Oven's horse yesterday,breaking at the start,ruining the 4 horse's chance and tipping Ken Barron onto the track!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangatira Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 2 minutes ago, The Major said: I wonder who was stupid enough to put $20,000 to win on Oven's horse yesterday,breaking at the start,ruining the 4 horse's chance and tipping Ken Barron onto the track!! surely not one last throw at the stumps 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davis Posted December 23, 2020 Author Share Posted December 23, 2020 57 minutes ago, The Major said: I wonder who was stupid enough to put $20,000 to win on Oven's horse yesterday,breaking at the start,ruining the 4 horse's chance and tipping Ken Barron onto the track!! Brodie? 🤣 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom lady Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 4 hours ago, Chief Stipe said: "Clarified" how? I would say by ovens . As it's quite common knowledge he bailed out Mitch last time with a 6 figure sum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Stipe Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 Just now, Blossom lady said: I would say by ovens . As it's quite common knowledge he bailed out Mitch last time with a 6 figure sum! No in the article Ovens doesn't say that. The journalist says "Stuff have since clarified...." Ovens said "the media have made mistakes in their reporting." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom lady Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 2 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said: No in the article Ovens doesn't say that. The journalist says "Stuff have since clarified...." Ovens said "the media have made mistakes in their reporting." Have you ever heard of "off the record". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Stipe Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 3 minutes ago, Blossom lady said: Have you ever heard of "off the record". Yes but from whom was the "off the record" comments made? It may well be "hundreds of thousands of dollars" but the article has no substantive proof and is no more than hearsay. That's not to say that the journalist is confident in what he infers but the fact is he doesn't corroborate what he has written. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom lady Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 27 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said: Yes but from whom was the "off the record" comments made? It may well be "hundreds of thousands of dollars" but the article has no substantive proof and is no more than hearsay. That's not to say that the journalist is confident in what he infers but the fact is he doesn't corroborate what he has written. I get where you are coming from. Personally I know some of the allegations against Mitch are 100% true as I have spoken to a couple of the affected people. One thing I will add is if Mitch was made more accountable for his actions the first time around then perhaps he wouldn't have got himself in the current situation. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangatira Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 2 hours ago, Davis said: Brodie? 🤣 loose change for the brodster but there is no way they would have him on the restricted list red carpet and limos all the way 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Stipe Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 30 minutes ago, Blossom lady said: I get where you are coming from. Personally I know some of the allegations against Mitch are 100% true as I have spoken to a couple of the affected people. One thing I will add is if Mitch was made more accountable for his actions the first time around then perhaps he wouldn't have got himself in the current situation. I get where you are coming from to. Now I'm not defending Kerr as quite frankly you can't. However I've seen and heard of these types of schemes in both horse codes for years. I didn't wake up until the day I received a huge offer for a horse that I owned with another person. Although I had the majority share by a small % I knew the other person didn't want to sell. The agent said "don't tell her until after you have sold." Or the story where a 50% owner of a top line horse woke up one day to see it listed in the sales catalogue! So I just can't understand how some owners have such a hands-off approach to owning a racehorse. It will also be interesting to see what HRNZ do in this matter. From my experience both HRNZ and NZTR seem to put their hands up and say "nothing to do with us, it's a commercial relationship between two external parties." Then the RIU will hope the Police lay charges and get a conviction because that makes their job easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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