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This was published 4 years ago
Weir's my cut? The fight over a commission from the sale of star horse
A lawyer for former horse trainer Darren Weir requested a $270,000 commission from the sale of champion sprinter Yes Yes Yes be held in a trust fund, prompting the colt's owners to take legal action for the money to be released.
The Herald can reveal a representative for the Melbourne Cup-winning trainer sought to have five per cent of Yes Yes Yes' multi-million dollar sale last year quarantined, claiming Weir was owed the sum under a training agreement.
Darren Weir and his former champion horse Yes Yes Yes.Credit: Getty Images, Jason South
A 50 per cent stake in the horse was sold to global breeding giant Coolmore in March last year - only five weeks after Racing Victoria stewards disqualified Weir on animal cruelty charges.
Weir, once Australia's most prolific racehorse trainer, pleaded no contest to the charges and was thrown out of the industry for four years. He also faces ongoing police charges for animal abuse and conspiracy to defraud stewards.
But according to emails obtained by the Herald, the office of Victoria's independent racing integrity commissioner Sal Perna earlier this year referred the matter to police after a months-long dispute over who was entitled to the money.
It came after a representative of a group of Yes Yes Yes' owners had lodged complaints with Racing Australia, Racing Victoria and Racing NSW over the withheld funds. They had also urged managing owners Coolmore to mediate the issue.
Glen Boss celebrates winning The Everest on Yes Yes Yes last year.Credit: Steven Siewert
Several small stakeholders had raised concerns about the money between themselves on the day Yes Yes Yes trounced his older rivals to win last October's $14 million The Everest, the world's richest turf race.
The victory prompted high-profile owner Brae Sokolski to declare the horse's value at $50 million amid a tearful tribute to Weir, who prepared Yes Yes Yes in his first three starts before his training empire collapsed.
Yes Yes Yes, which earlier this week was named Australia's champion three-year-old last season, was retired shortly after The Everest with a tendon injury and is standing at Coolmore's Hunter Valley stud for the first time this spring for $38,500 per service.
Weir's Forest Lodge Racing Pty Ltd formerly had agreements with owners entitling him to 10 per cent of the proceeds of any sale of a stallion he had purchased.
He identified Yes Yes Yes at the 2018 Magic Millions sale and bloodstock agent John Foote bought the yearling for $200,000.
Yes Yes Yes' owners sought clarification over Weir's entitlement to a commission after the country's leading group 1 trainer Chris Waller, who took care of the horse after Weir's ban, emailed them in April last year.
Waller's office said they had been told by Weir he had a long-standing agreement which he claimed entitled him to 10 per cent of the sale. Waller's staff promptly alerted Racing Victoria stewards, who did not support Weir's claim.
The email also claimed Weir had made contact with Sokolski, the horse's former managing owner before Coolmore took a controlling stake, and offered to reduce his commission to five per cent. Sokolski also claimed he informed Racing Victoria stewards of Weir's application.
But the money was kept in a trust fund of law firm Rankin and Ellison for over a year before the owners finally enlisted their own legal counsel in March, arguing Weir's disqualification before the sale vetoed any claim to a commission.
As a smaller percentage co-owner you place trust in integrity arms they will provide assistance when required.
Yes Yes Yes' part-owner Christine Hay
A number of owners reported their share of the quarantined money was dispersed a little over a week later, but remain frustrated the issue was only resolved after footing their own legal bill.
"As a smaller percentage co-owner you place trust in integrity arms they will provide assistance when required," said Yes Yes Yes' part-owner Christine Hay.
"Unfortunately, in this instance they ignored repeated requests for assistance, thus forcing co-owners to incur legal costs to have funds returned to them. If Australian racing authorities want to encourage smaller percentage co-owners they must provide assistance to those co-owners when required."
Weir and Hannebery declined to comment when contacted by the Herald. A representative for Coolmore did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement provided to the Herald, Racing Victoria said: "Under the Australian Rules of Racing a disqualified person must not receive any direct or indirect financial or other benefit from thoroughbred racing and/or breeding in Australia during the period of their disqualification.
"The prohibition on a disqualified person benefiting from the sport is crucial to its integrity. It also ensures that a serious breach of the rules of racing carries an appropriate penalty."
Police have charged Weir and three other men with animal cruelty and corrupt betting, alleging Weir engaged in "torturing, abusing, overworking, and terrifying" one horse, Melbourne Cup runner Yogi.
Lawyers for Weir told a court last month they would apply to dismiss the conspiracy charges because they were "misconceived and duplicitous" and had "no evidence of sufficient weight to find a conviction".
Yes Yes Yes had only had one start under Chris Waller's care, a dominant win in the group 2 Todman Stakes, a traditional Golden Slipper lead-up, before the transaction with Coolmore was finalised. Waller trained the horse to beat the older sprinters as a three-year-old the next season in The Everest.
Yes Yes Yes won more than $7 million in prize money from just eight starts.