News

O’Shea Family Support Evening

21st Mar 2012

The NSW Trainers Association in conjunction with Inglis will host a racing industry evening in support of the O’Shea Family on Tuesday 17 April at Inglis’ Newmarket Complex.

Following on from the decision made in the Court of Appeal in recent weeks, this primary aim of this evening is to make up for the shortfall in the trainer’s indemnity insurance.

If this happened to a trainer today they could be entitled to up to $250,000 through the NSW Trainers Association insurance policy. Unfortunately, at the time, John O'Shea was covered under the old ATA policy where he only received $75,000 to cover his costs. This policy has now changed.

John O'Shea has fallen through the cracks of insurance policies and that's why as a racing family he deserves our support.

There will be a silent auction on the night with plenty of great items to bid on. There will also be a live auction of stallion nominations to some of Australia’s top sires. All proceeds will go to the O’Shea family. Our target is to raise $175,000 to fill the gap that John fell through.

"Today it's John O'Shea but tomorrow it could be a small Country trainer and the NSW Trainers Association don't want to see any trainer go under because of an insurance technicality," said NSWTA’s Steve McMahon.

"Along with other protections we are working through with the industry, it's our aim to improve the insurance policy further next year so that trainers have the best possible cover and to work toward this incident never happening again," McMahon added.

The Australian racing industry has a long history of supporting their fraternity during difficult times and this is no different.

Details of nominations to be offered during the live auction as well as items available for silent auction will be available for viewing on both the NSWTA and Inglis websites from Monday 16 April. Anyone unable to attend on the night will be able to register a phone bid with Inglis prior to evening.

All money raised will go to the O’Shea family’s legal costs.

For more information, please contact either:

Steve McMahon
NSW Trainers Association
0452 078 779

Jonathan D’Arcy
Inglis
0412 965 729