SPCA probes horse breeder

Loophole allows studmaster to carry on despite report highlighting his ‘incompetence and poor reputation’. By Kirsty Lawrence.

A stud farm is breeding and registering thoroughbreds for the high-end bloodstock industry, despite being accused of neglecting horses.

In a Racing Integrity Unit report sent to Sunday News it was recommended Robert Lewis of Regal Fern Lodge in Kaitoke, near Whanganui, be prevented from breeding registered thoroughbreds.

This would prevent Lewis from registering or filing any mare or foal returns with the New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) Stud Book.

The investigator, Simon Irving, said in the report that Lewis’ incompetence and poor reputation was unacceptable and damaging to the thoroughbred breeding industry.

However, three months on from the report’s release, nothing has changed and NZ Thoroughbred Racing general manager Martin Burns said this was because legally they could not follow the recommendation.

Within their current set of rules they were able to stop people registering horses who were eligible for racing, but they could not stop them registering a mare or foal if they followed the process they currently had in place.

‘‘If we refuse to do it the obvious risk is someone will challenge it, and under the current set of rules our position wouldn’t hold up.’’

Burns said they were only made aware of this issue when Irving made these recommendations and they had been working since then to create a new set of rules that would allow them to follow the advice.

‘‘We are looking at a whole lot of welfare changes, anyway, and this highlights a specific issue.’’

Burns said any animal welfare issues concerned them.

Lewis has been plagued with problems since 2015 when the North Taranaki SPCA removed five broodmares from his care for welfare reasons.

After moving to Whanganui he purchased his own property in Kaitoke and leased the NZTRregistered stallion, Little Wonder.

Complaints were received by the RIU from Lewis’ clients, workers, a vet clinic and also from anonymous sources, which prompted the investigation.

They included concerns for animal welfare. One vet said though the mares he examined were light (under-weight), though not enough to be referred to the SPCA. He did not believe Lewis was a suitable person to be running a commercial thoroughbred stud operation.