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The latest in the long sad saga of M Kerr. An outright crook with no moral compass. Horse trainer Mitchell Kerr sentenced after hiding information during bankruptcy proceedings By Tracy Neal Open Justice multimedia journalist, Nelson-Marlborough 24 Apr, 2024 07:00 PM3 mins to read SaveShare Mitchell Kerr is back on home detention after his latest bout of offending. A disgraced former horse trainer gambled more than $2 million before filing for bankruptcy and collecting almost $10,000 in Government-backed wage subsidies. Today, former harness trainer Mitchell Paul Kerr was sentenced in Christchurch District Court after his conviction for providing misleading statements and hiding crucial information from the Official Assignee of New Zealand when he applied for self-adjudicated bankruptcy. He was sentenced to five months of home detention. The Official Assignee, also known as the Insolvency and Trustee Service, is a business unit of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). It administers bankruptcies and liquidations by collecting and selling assets to repay creditors. Kerr had concealed crucial details such as his bank accounts for gambling when he filed for bankruptcy. After investigations by MBIE’s integrity and enforcement team, Kerr was found to have breached the Insolvency Act in several ways. MBIE said in a statement that between April 2018 and November 2020 Kerr gambled $2.055m via online gambling website Ladbrokes using six banks that he did not disclose. In March 2021, Kerr applied to MBIE’s Insolvency and Trustee Service for self-imposed bankruptcy, and on March 30 he was declared bankrupt. He was sent a letter outlining what he could and couldn’t do, such as taking part in managing or controlling any business unless permission was sought from the Official Assignee. It was also an offence for someone to contribute to their bankruptcy by gambling. MBIE said despite Kerr being “fully aware” of the obligations and responsibilities he had during his bankruptcy, between April 2021 and June 2022 he continued to be involved in the management of his business, Mitch Kerr Racing. Between August and December 2021, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) introduced the Covid-19 Wage Subsidy to help businesses pay employees and protect jobs affected by Covid alert level changes. Kerr made eight applications during this period, declaring himself a self-employed/contractor (sole trader), and received $9600 from MSD. A senior spokesperson for MBIE’s integrity and enforcement team, Vanessa Cook, said the self-initiated bankruptcy process helped individuals honestly resolve their financial situations and resume their normal economic lives. She said it was a fair and effective process that helped to protect the public from financial risk, but Kerr “wilfully chose to mislead and withhold critical information” when he entered bankruptcy. Cook said MBIE’s integrity and enforcement team would not hesitate to investigate and prosecute individuals who took advantage of the system by misleading and suppressing facts. Kerr has made headlines several times in recent years, most recently in June 2022 when a year after being banned for life from harness racing for duping owners, he was put on home detention for fraud and forgery, including selling a fictitious horse for $40,000. In April 2021, the Judicial Control Authority for Racing cancelled his licence after he was found guilty of four charges at a Judicial Control Authority hearing in Christchurch. Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.

They obviously have a cunning plan.

Jockey Ryusei Sakai, one of the rising stars in Japan racing, flew to Louisville, Ky., this week to be aboard UAE Derby (G2) winner Forever Young for his penultimate breeze ahead of the May 4 Kentucky Derby (G1).View the full article

Set to unveil to racegoers a new paddock that is part of a $200 million capital improvement project, Churchill Downs opens for its spring meet April 27, one week before the May 4 Kentucky Derby (G1).View the full article

It's been mentioned elsewhere but Olivier Peslier has retired at the age of 51. The two horses with whom I associate him most are PEINTRE CELEBRE and GOLDIKOVA. The former had a srellar season in 1997 winning the Jockey Club, the Grand Prix de Paris and the Arc and his performance in the Arc, when he demolished the track record by three seconds, was brilliant. GOLDIKOVA was the top European older horse in both 2009 and 2010 and won a string of Group 1 races at a mile and topped it off by winning the Breeders Cup Mile in 2008, 2009 and 2010. One of his biggest friends is Frankie Dettori and he has sent a fulsome tribute to his weighing room colleague. Back to the action at hand and we have the declarations for Sandown's flat card on Friday. Seven stand in the Group 2 Mile and as expected the money has come for CHARYN who mixed it in the very best company last season including runs behind PADDINGTON in the Irish Guineas, St James's Palace and Sussex and he was beaten only four lengths each time so that looks good form in Group 2 company. I still think POKER FACE as the one to put up against him but the each way angle has gone so I'll probably stick with CHARYN who wouldn't mind any of the forecast rain. There are a couple of Group 3 races on the card and the Classic Trial over 2000m includes Godolphin's ARABIAN CROWN who is currently 12s for the Derby. Just seven first entries for the Ganay at Longchamp on Sunday where the ground is Very Heavy. FANTASTIC MOON is one of the better German horses and ran midfield in the Arc. The return at Hoppegarten over Easter was okay and he should be spot on for this. The lightly raced AL RIFFA is interesting for Joseph O'Brien. FEED THE FLAME was three places in front of FANTASTIC MOON in the Arc but was very disappointing in the Harcourt on reappearance.

Handicappers hoping to select the 2024 Kentucky Oaks winner are advised to review the past 20 years of Kentucky Oaks history before placing their bets. Doing so reveals a number of prominent trends that can help identify key contenders.View the full article

Olivier Peslier, the rider for 165 group 1 wins, will retire Thursday at 51. He won four editions of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) and guided Goldikova to three Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) victories.View the full article

How is the new calendar is going to work in the North with two meetings every week, even with fewer races/meeting? We simply don't have the owners (=horses) up here. I assume more details will be coming out and will be interesting to see if HRNZ has any initiatives to boost owner numbers. However, if their thoughts are to run a distinct 2 tier system with existing stakes at Auckland and even lower stakes than currently at Cambridge, then there would have to be a total revamp of handicapping and race conditions to make the latter viable and attractive to owners.

I try to leave that to the reader.( may be only a handful )If you can see the point your on the same page, if not, hey. My Comments are easier to follow than the 'Wahs' surely

What exactly is a 'Flu induced heart attack? I've spent hours looking at studies around this theory and most end with a comment involving large scale studies being required with mega bucks thrown at them....if your health is Shithouse it's a no brainer you are more prone, question remains is it 'the bugs' or a plethora of conditions related to environment, lifestyle painkillers and Vaccines....do you really believe these vaccines are keeping you alive ? You don't strike me as that foolish....the biggest killer is Stress and if these 'Placebos' mask your ignorance of the facts then why not

They used to use those electric proders to load the cattle trucks, maybe not so these day, just ask them nicely maybe,

Good to see Troy back in action. Anyone know where Temyia Taiaroa has been? I would call her up and ask, but that might be a bit weird...

Listen her you knob, this is a public forum where we each get to share out thoughts and ask questions. I answer questions for some and ask when I am keen for an answer on others. Someone else might now they might not, it's part and parcel of this. Don't come out and have a go at me.

All jiggers do is give the lazy or 'non-trying' horses a wake-up call. In the old days a high percentage of trainers used them but the success rate was low.....so many thought it was not worth it.....it was used as a 'last resort' on horses that were not 'putting in' on race day. I'm with you Ohokaman ......a bloody 'witch-hunt' the same as Biden is doing to Trump and that will backfire as well. Go on Weiry .....get your licence back mate and win a premiership because it was only the big J (jealousy) that saw you sidelined. I will give you one to train that's for sure. ....!!! FF.

Can i make a suggestion ring him up and report back????????????????????//

Please use mine for another comp. I enjoy the comps just for the fun of it, thanks.

I see Troy Harris is riding in the heighweight's on Friday at Matamata. Is he planning to ride over the sticks this Winter?

Numbers have never been too great in the Northern region for the past couple of seasons. If you go back you will notice that is a common trend (unfortunately). Central Districts make up the majority of jumpers in the country. At least both heighweights at Matamata on Friday have fields of 12 and there are 12 jockey's there as well.

First cab off the rank, please can I have my $20 placed on Adesso in race 2 tomorrow at Beaudesert, M14 R2 #1, $10 each way, fingers crossed!

Jump trials at Cambridge today. 4 heats. 14 runners. 6 jockeys. Numbers not looking flash at this early stage.

Good spot thanks Pete. It is the latter - I overlooked updating that rule. Will update it now.

Hi John. Are joker losses automatically -100 points or will it be 100/win Dividend doubled?

Each Saturday for 10 weeks you will be required to select two horses, from a list of prescribed meetings, who you believe will get beaten. This is a risk-reward game - the more favoured the runner, the more points you will earn, however if your selection wins you will lose points and lose a life. Up to you which races you select - you can even pick two horses in the same race if you wish. They just have to be races at the prescribed meetings (this will be all NZ races and maybe 2 or 3 Australian meetings). Scoring - if your runner does not win you will earn points equal to 100 divided by the Tote win dividend, eg. if the tote dividend was $3.50 you will earn 100/3.5 = 28.57 points. If your horse wins you will lose the same number of points you would have earned had it been beaten (ie. 100 /Win dividend) and you will also lose one life. You will have a total of three lives across the 10 weeks. If you reach three winners you are eliminated from the comp. The comp winner will be the person with the most points accumulated across the 10 weeks (from those who survive for the entire 10 week period), or the last person eliminated if nobody makes it through the entire 10 weeks. Where entrants in contention are eliminated in the same week, they will be split by the points that they have after elimination (ie. including points lost from your 3rd winner). Jokers (optional) - over the 10 weeks you will have two Jokers at your disposal - you don't have to use them if you choose not to - again risk & reward. In any week you can nominate one of your two selections as a Joker play. You can't play both Jokers in the same week. Your Joker selection will earn double points, but will also lose double points if your Joker selection wins. Note, you will only lose one life (not two) if a Joker selection wins. A few more detailed rules: Regular Scratchings - if any of your selections is a regular scratching you will earn zero points - you may survive 10 weeks by picking scratchings but my history with this comp tells me that you are unlikely to win that way (and it's also not much fun). You can replace scratchings up until the posting deadline (in a new post please), but not after the deadline. Late Scratchings/Abandonments - if any of your horses is late scratched or in an abandoned race, you can replace it up until the posting deadline, but if you don't get the chance to replace you have the option of an extra pick (if you wish) the following week. If this happens in the final week that is just the rub of the green - obviously no extra picks the following week. Dead-heats - if one of your picks dead-heats for first, it will count as a winner and you will lose points based on the full win dividend (not the half they pay out) and one life. Late entrants - we will accept new entrants in week 2, but again because the objective is to survive 10 weeks, they will start with -50 points and one life down. Week 3, -100 points and 2 lives down. No new entrants from week 4. Non posters - if you don't post in any week after Week 1 you will lose 50 points and one life. If you don't post two weeks running you're eliminated.

See the earlier thread (and next post) for comp details/rules, but post your selections here. Very simply you have to pick two horses, who you think will get beaten, from the meetings listed below. The less they are paying the more points you can earn. Please note the tweak to the scoring if your selection(s) wins. For week 1 the prescribed meetings are: Te Rapa Whanganui Rosehill Caulfield Morphettville Posting deadline this week will be 12.00pm (midday). If you pick a horse in a race that starts before this time you obviously have to post before the listed start time. Posting format - please post Meeting/Race #/Name. No need to post the horse's number - names are what I use in my scoring sheet and will also make it interesting for people to peruse the selections of others. Example of helpful posting format: Te Rapa - Race 6: Karman Line Whanganui - Race 7: Princess Elly and don't forget you have the option to use two Jokers over the 10 week period, but not both in the same week. Jokers apply to a single selection. To play your Joker just add "Joker" next to the relevant selection.

They are also listed in the Programme Booklet.