Dave Kerr, one of the best-known of Riccarton-based trainers in modern times, has died of cancer.
On his own account, and later in partnership with his wife, Jan, he prepared the classic winners, Canterbury Belle, Gaffa, and Clansman, which all won either the One Thousand or Two Thousand Guineas between 1982 and 1984.
Apprenticed to Jim Ellis, he rode his first winner at Motukarara in 1948 as a 12-year-old, at his first ride, and later won a Dunedin Gold Cup.
The first horse he trained, Keep Time, also won its first start for him, the North Canterbury Cup.
Kerr gave away professional training for 14 years until 1981 and then produced a string of high-class gallopers including the brilliant filly Straight Line, Just A Rebel, The Chairman, Red Back, Charles Beaufort, Spangles, Wessex, The Snob, and Time Flies.
In more recent times the stable produced Pastime and the high-class galloper Domingo.
Kerr's biggest success was with Canterbury Belle, which won the Stradbroke Handicap in Brisbane in 1984, ridden by Grant Cooksley.
His achievements were all the more remarkable because of the relatively small number of horses he trained.
- NZPA
Racing: Leading trainer dies
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.