High-profile trainer Darren Weir in court on animal cruelty charges
Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Darren Weir’s right-hand man belted racehorses with pipe, while the practice of “shocking” horses has been allegedly linked to corrupt betting in last year’s Melbourne Cup.
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Horses trained by high-profile Victorian trainer Darren Weir were subjected to “psychological conditioning” through “torturing, abusing, overworking and terrifying”, police charges allege.
Three horses were given electric shocks and belted with plastic pipe at Weir’s Warrnambool stables in October last year by employees Jarrod McLean and Tyson Kermond, it is claimed. The conditioning involved striking the horses with the crude lengths of pipe and jiggers — devices that emit an electric shock — as they exercised on treadmills while wearing blinkers.
Police allege McLean and Kermond also whistled at Sandown Cup winner Yogi, one-time Melbourne Cup favourite Red Cardinal and Japanese import Tosen Basil to condition the horses as part of an “illicit covert training regime” designed to win money through betting.
The mistreatment of the horses is described in 33 criminal charges laid against Weir, McLean, Kermond and former jockey William Hernan. The allegations have shocked Yogi’s managing owner and leading syndicator, Darren Dance.
“I love Yogi,” Dance said on Wednesday. “He has become a cult figure in racing and he is a lovely horse. To become aware of the details of what allegedly happened is extremely distressing.”
Police allege Yogi, Red Cardinal and Tosen Basil were mistreated in October and November last year. McLean and Hernan allegedly laid bets on Yogi and Red Cardinal after they had been hit with jiggers and pipe. Neither horse placed.
The charges against Weir, 49, McLean, 39, Kermond, 27, and Hernan, 34, stemmed from Victoria Police raids on properties in Warrnambool and Ballarat on January 30.
Wearing a pale blue shirt, white shirt, blue tie and brown shoes, Weir sat next to his former stable foreman McLean in courtroom two of the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
The case was adjourned to February 14 next year for a committal hearing.
Disqualified in February for four years by Racing Victoria, Weir faces nine charges, including three counts of “engaging in the torturing, abusing, overworking and terrifying” of a thoroughbred racehorse. He is also charged with three counts of “causing unreasonable pain or suffering” to a racehorse. The charges relate to the discovery of three jiggers in the master bedroom of his Ballarat home.
The Melbourne Cup-winning trainer also faces charges of possessing an unregistered firearm and conspiracy to defraud RV stewards.
McLean and Kermond face six counts each relating to animal cruelty.
INSIDE DARREN WEIR’S HEAVY FALL FROM GRACE
ONE-TIME CUP FAVOURITE AT CENTRE OF CRUELTY OFFENCES
McLean has been charged with a total of 16 offences, including engaging in conduct that would corrupt betting outcomes and possessing cocaine.
Hernan, who until recently worked for RV as a track walker, has been charged with using “corrupt conduct information”, a betting-related charge.
While McLean, Kermond and Hernan have regularly appeared at race tracks during the spring, Weir has rarely been spotted since his inglorious removal from the industry.