'Deception upon deception': Call for star trainer Mitchell Kerr to get life ban

Thursday, 25 March 2021

Christchurch reinsman Mitchell Kerr in better days.

The Racing Integrity Unit (RIU) has called for star young trainer Mitchell Kerr to be banned for life due to his multiple deceptions and breaches of trust.

Harness racing figure Kerr, 29, was due to appear at a Judicial Control Authority hearing on dishonesty charges on Thursday but did not turn up.

The tribunal, chaired by former High Court judge Warwick Gendall, heard Kerr disputed the charges but was on the verge of bankruptcy and could not afford a lawyer to represent him.

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The authority went ahead with a formal proof hearing and found the charges were established.

The four charges alleged Kerr sold a non-existent horse and then charged its new owners expenses, oversold shares in horses he trained in breach of owners’ instructions and charged his owners insurance premiums for non-existent policies.

Mitchell Kerr was one of the upcoming stars of harness racing.

The tribunal heard he was a prolific gambler who bet on harness racing, greyhounds and thoroughbreds, losing nearly $1 million through the Australian betting agency Ladbrokes in just two years.

Black Cap Matt Henry, All Black Anton Lienert-Brown and several wealthy businessmen are among those cheated by Kerr.

Counsel for the RIU David Jackson told the tribunal a disqualification for Kerr was inevitable and it should be for life.

Kerr’s behaviour had been the “polar opposite” of the integrity the industry needed and if the door was left open to him, “what message does that send?”

“When you are acting in this way, deception upon deception upon deception, the door must be closed.”

Veteran horse breeder Don Bates told the tribunal the lies and deceit had left him feeling foolish and embarrassed and had stopped him enjoying the industry in which he had worked for 50 years.

Kerr trained two horses bred by Bates on a deal they split winnings 50/50 and Kerr did not charge training fees. Despite being told he was not to sell any of his share in the horses, Kerr over-syndicated his shares many times over.

Kerr's spectacular fall from grace surfaced publicly when he handed in his training and driver's licence to Harness Racing New Zealand in November, citing his “mental health” as the reason for the break.

Gendall said the most serious deception occurred in 2019/2020 when Kerr sold a horse that did not exist to Australian owners for $40,000 and then obtained $26,000 for imaginary fees. When the owners started to question him, he told them the horse was a lemon.

“When the balloon started to go up”, Kerr had tried to buy two dud horses for large amounts of money. However, owners Colin De Filippi and Steve McRae, to their credit, would not allow the “unworthy” horses to be sold, Gendall said.

Jackson said Kerr’s lies and deceptions had left confusion and chaos in his wake with owners not knowing where their money had gone and what they actually owned. Owners believed Kerr had forged their signatures on official documents, he said.

The charges were representative because multiple instances of deception were involved in single transactions.