James Kennedy spends $370k on racehorses while contending with Bang & Olufsen debt
Watch seller James Kennedy has splashed $370,000 on racehorses — including a filly touted as potential Oaks horse — while contending with $6 million in debts from his failed Bang & Olufsen business.
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Watch seller James Kennedy has spent $370,000 on racehorses at the Magic Millions while contending with $6 million in debts from his failed Bang & Olufsen business.
Mr Kennedy is pictured below showing off his Gold Coast purchases, including a yearling filly from the Gai Waterhouse-trained stallion, Al Maher, and mare Woodstock Hussey for $190,000. He also bought a Headwater-Amarachi colt for $90,000 and a Sebring-Maddie de Belle colt for $90,000.
Mr Kennedy said he had long had an interest in thoroughbreds.
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“Through my sponsorship of Kennedy Oaks Day and my association with racing.com, as well as my ownership of horses, I am actively seeking to have my own runner in the Kennedy Oaks in the coming years,” he said.
Bloodstock agent Sheamus Mills, who bought the horses on behalf of Mr Kennedy, said the filly was a chance to run in The Oaks.
“She’s that type of horse but she’s the half sister of a sprinter so whether she throws to her mother is unknown at this stage.”
Mills said the horses would cost up to $40,000 each a year to train.
Mr Kennedy’s Bang & Olufsen business remains in administration. The House of Kennedy is employing former Seven News director Simon Pristel’s Headline PR outfit to handle the fallout. A creditors meeting this week discussed the company’s ongoing administration under Ferrier Hodgson.
Mr Kennedy owns a string of luxury boutiques across the country, including a marquee store at Melbourne’s Crown Casino.
He also has a Rolex outlet at Crown, but his business hit headwinds last year with the collapse of EGI Audio Visual (Retail), which housed his Bang & Olufsen business.
The Danish company has been chasing him for $6 million in debts it claims it was owed.
Mr Kennedy has filed a counter lawsuit claiming Bang & Olufsen owed him because they were selling products through Aldi.
“Unfortunately the Bang & Olufsen side venture didn’t work out despite a lot of hard work by lot of passionate people,” Mr Kennedy said.
He says he has paid back all the customers and landlords who were out of pocket and only the Bang & Olufsen debt remains.
Sounds like a bet each way.
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