Harness racing trainer's downfall from serial winner to a lifetime ban for corruption

Wednesday, 14 April 2021

Christchurch trainer Mitchell Kerr’s career in harness racing after he was banned for corruption.

Desperate attempts by harness racing trainer Mitchell Kerr to hide he sold a non-existent horse to Australian businessmen have emerged in a decision banning him for life.

In a scathing ruling by the Judicial Complaints Authority (JCA) released on Wednesday, Kerr, 28, was told his career was finished due to conduct it described as appalling and seriously corrupt.

Kerr was sentenced on four charges laid by the Racing Integrity Unit (RIU), that he sold a non-existent horse and then charged its new owners for expenses, oversold shares in horses he trained, and charged its owners insurance premiums for non-existent policies.

The estimated loss to Kerr’s victims is about $250,000, and police are investigating.

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John Coulam, chairman of the Harness Racing New Zealand board, said the decision reinforced the industry’s “zero tolerance” for dishonest behaviour.

Warwick Gendall, the chairman of the JCA panel, said Kerr had forfeited any right to be involved in the harness racing profession or enjoy any of the benefits of horse racing. A penalty to deter others was crucial.

Over a three-year career racing in Canterbury, Kerr had 87 wins to his credit and won nearly $900,000 in stake money.

“The confidence of owners and others in the absolute integrity of trainers in whom total trust is vested is vital. The sport cannot endure if owners cannot trust trainers.”

Gendall gave a detailed account of Kerr’s fraud against Brisbane businessmen Peter Varcoe and John Beverley.

The saga began in September 2019 when Kerr, then based in Rangiora, telephoned Varcoe about a new horse sired by champion stallion Bettor’s Delight that Varcoe “had to buy” because it was so good.

The price was $40,000. Varcoe paid $20,000 and got his friend John Beverley to take a share for $20,000.

Over the next nine months Kerr invoiced the businessmen $26,175 for a range of services including shoes, vet bills, grazing fees and a herpes injection.

More than a year later the horse, given the stable name Beaver, had not run a race or been seen at trials.

Now suspicious, Beverley insisted on seeing its ownership papers and a photo of the horse with the brand visible.

Kerr responded on November 16, 2019, saying “this boy” was not shaping up and recommended selling the horse. Beverley insisted on a photo and the relevant documents.

“The fat is now well in the fire,” Gendall said in the ruling, “but [Kerr] continues the pretence”.

Bettors Delight has sired some of New Zealand’s best harness racing horses including Spankem, pictured here winning a race in November.

In an email the next day Kerr said: “I’m really upset that you both think you don’t have a horse, this is insane! I agree paperwork is not a strong point but gee whiz I’m certainly not like that.”

This response to the allegation was “breathtaking”, Gendall said.

“He endeavours to demean those he has cheated… It reflects a continued betrayal. [Kerr] is now desperate.”

Kerr immediately tried to buy a horse that met the description of Beaver, the non-existent horse.

Veteran Canterbury trainer Colin De Filippi had such a horse but told Kerr it was “no good”. Kerr then went to the owner who refused his offer of $20,000 because the horse was not worth it.

The trainer then went to breeders Spreydon Lodge, which had an unraced four-year-old called Franco Lebanon.

He offered $25,000 after a brief look but never paid. He did manage to photograph the horse and immediately sent the photograph to Varcoe and Beverley.

However, Varcoe made other inquiries and uncovered “multiple acts of dreadful betrayal”.

In his ruling, Gendall said the panel could find no mitigating factors. Kerr claimed he had mental health issues but provided nothing in support. He had never expressed remorse or sorrow for the impact of his misconduct on owners or the industry.

Kerr 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 were among owners of horses Kerr trained and who had their shareholding diluted by over-selling.

The seriousness of Kerr’s actions “over an extended period, affecting multiple owners/clients, involving very substantial amounts of money, with egregious, appalling breaches of duties of faith and fiduciary obligations, require disqualification for life”, Gendall said.

“Where there is egregious corrupt practice, over an extended period, life disqualification should follow.

“No other sanction can meet the need to uphold the objectives to which we have already referred. He is unfit to be involved in any way in the racing industry or profession.”

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

By then he had 87 wins to his credit and won nearly $900,000 in stake money in his three-year training career.

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