Darren Weir heads to Supreme Court to challenge two-year ban

Darren Weir has lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court over the starting date of a two-year ban that will keep him off racecourses and away from horses until the eve of the 2026 spring carnival.

Weir’s appeal claims the time he would be without a trainer’s licence was “excessive and out of proportion”.

Darren Weir is appealing the start date of his two-year ban.Credit: Jason South

His court documents claim the Victorian Racing Tribunal’s ruling in September this year was “unreasonable and contrary to the interests of justice”.

Weir, 54, was rubbed out by the tribunal for two years on charges of using a jigger – an electric shock device – on three horses while they exercised on a treadmill.

The charges related to a covert police video taken at Weir’s Warrnambool stables in 2018, a week before the 2018 Melbourne Cup, showing him using the jigger on Tosen Basil, Red Cardinal and Yogi.

His Ballarat stables were raided in January 2019 and three jiggers were found in his bedroom. He was disqualified for four years in February 2019 for possessing the jiggers.

That ban ended in February 2023. Racing Victoria stewards then opened a new investigation and laid new charges after gaining access to the police video.

That led to Weir being disqualified for another two years by the VRT. That ban began on September 9 this year – seven days after he was ordered to clear all thoroughbred horses from his pre-training property at Maldon.

The three-person VRT panel of judges John Bowman and Kathryn Kings, and former chairman of stewards Des Gleeson ruled that the penalty would not be backdated because Weir had operated a pre-training business for 18 months – from February 2023 to September 2024.

“He has been able to carry on a large enterprise relating to thoroughbred horses,” Judge Bowman said in September.

Darren Weir and Michelle Payne won the 2015 Melbourne Cup with Prince of Penzance.Credit: Justin McManus

“This has been with the knowledge of the stewards, and it is not suggested in any way that it was in breach of the rules.

“At the same token, the period from the end of his disqualification on February 7, 2023, to date (September this year) cannot be seen as a period of penalty.”

The judgment meant that Weir would not be able to train a horse for 7½ years, despite only being banned for six years.

In court papers lodged by solicitor Katherine Brideoake, of Guthrie & Associates, Weir’s appeal says the “tribunal fell into jurisdictional error”.

The papers claim the time Weir would be without a trainer’s licence was “excessive and out of proportion” considering the length of time that had passed since he was filmed using the jigger – the charged conduct – on October 30, 2018.

The appeal claims the tribunal had not properly accounted for Weir’s rehabilitation, his original four-year disqualification, the common element between the two bans, and the unexplained delay between the end of his first disqualification in February 2023 and the laying of new charges in September 2023.

The appeal claims the tribunal also failed to consider delays in the penalty phase of Weir’s case.

Weir’s appeal papers also claim the VRT failed to have regard to the “prohibition against impermissible double punishment” because the acts, facts and circumstances involving all charges were the same. It also claims that the VRT’s conclusion that “special circumstances” had not been established was unreasonable.

Weir was a central figure in one of Australian turf’s most famous victories, combining with jockey Michelle Payne to win the 2015 Melbourne Cup with Prince Of Penzance, who had started at $101. Payne was the first female jockey to win Australia’s most famous race.

Until last month, Weir was working more than 100 horses and employing more than 30 people as part of a substantial spelling and pre-training operation at his Trevenson Park property.

He was able to do so because a licence is not required to pre-train horses as long as they are returned to a licensed trainer’s stables 28 days before they race.

But as a disqualified person, he is banned from attending racetracks or making direct or indirect financial gain from the racing industry, including having thoroughbred horses on his property for breeding purposes or leasing the facility out to another trainer.

Waller’s two-pronged attack

Trainer Chris Waller’s stranglehold on favouritism for Saturday’s $5 million Caulfield Cup has tightened after his group 1-winning import, Buckaroo, drew gate eight in Tuesday’s barrier draw.

Waller’s other fancied runner, Metropolitan-winner Land Legend, landed the inside gate, while the Gai Waterhouse-Adrian Bott import, Eliyass, drew the extreme outside in barrier 21, but will start from 18 after the emergencies come out.

Waterhouse and Bott decided not to start Just Fine in the Caulfield Cup, opting instead for the Moonee Valley Cup, which allowed Ciaron Maher’s Sayedaty Sadaty (barrier two) to sneak into the final field.

Steven Arnold gives Caulfield Cup favourite Buckaroo a hitout at Caulfield on Tuesday morning.Credit: Getty Images

CAULFIELD CUP 2400m, Group 1, Handicap, Saturday
1. KALAPOUR (K Less) B Melham 55kg – barrier 4
2. BUCKAROO (C Waller) J Moreira 54.5kg – barrier 8
3. CIRCLE OF FIRE (C Maher) J Allen 54.5kg – barrier 13
4. WARP SPEED (N Takagai) A Sugawara 54.5kg – barrier 19
5. HUETOR (P Snowden) L Currie 54kg – barrier 7
6. WARMONGER (M Price & M Kent Jnr) M Dee 53.5kg – barrier 16
7. ELIYASS (G Waterhouse & A Bott) T Clark 53kg – barrier 21
8. LAND LEGEND (C Waller) Z Purton 53kg – barrier 1
9. YOUNG WERTHER (D O’Brien) J McNeil 52.5kg – barrier 10
10. DUKE DE SESSA (C Maher) H Coffey 52kg – barrier 6
11. KNIGHT’S CHOICE (S Laxon & J Symons) R Dolan 51.5kg – barrier 14
12. MURAMASA (T Busuttin & N Young) D Moor 51kg – barrier 5
13. ZARDOZI (J Cummings) A Atzeni 51kg – barrier 12
14. COCO SUN (T & C McEvoy) K Teetan 50.5kg – barrier 20
15. DENY KNOWLEDGE (A & S Freedman) C Newitt 50.5kg – barrier 17
16. VALIANT KING (C Waller) T M Nugent 50.5kg – barrier 18
17. POSITIVITY (A Forsman) W Costin 50kg – barrier 9
18. SAYEDATY SADATY (C Maher) B Thompson 50kg – barrier 2
19e. FANCY MAN (A Neasham & R Archibald) TBC 50kg – barrier 3
20e. BERKSHIRE BREEZE (C Maher) TBC 50kg – barrier 15
21e. FRANCESCO GUARDI (C Waller) TBC 52kg – barrier 11

What the connections said ...

Several of the Caulfield Cup big guns hit the track on Tuesday morning for a hitout before Saturday’s $5 million group 1 event. This is how the stables see their chances.

Trainer Chris Waller on Buckaroo: “Steven Arnold was aboard (this morning), and he’s a great judge, and he was happy with his action, the way he quickened and his recovery afterwards. He’s got great lead-up form, which makes the job a bit easier. We knew he had the form from Ireland and England, it was just a matter of recapturing that form, and he has. The way he got around here, winning the Underwood, was pretty good. I thought that day at the 500m that he would look like the winner, but I didn’t expect him to power on and keep running like he did. That was really good to see.”

Steven Arnold gallops Land Legend at Caulfield on Tuesday morning.Credit: Getty Images

Waller on Land Legend: “He worked very well. I think he’s come on well since his Metropolitan win. That was only third up, and he’s quite a gross horse. I thought he looked fitter today in the parade ring here, and he worked accordingly. He worked well, recovered well, and I think he’s on an upward plane. So I’m hoping he’ll continue to improve.”

Track rider Kosi Kawakami speaks to RSN about Warp Speed: “He’s a top-class weight-for-age stayer. He was only a few lengths behind T O Royal. He was carrying the same weight as him, and he was only a few lengths behind. Probably 2400m, is a little bit shorter than what his best is, but he still will run a very good race. Obviously, the Melbourne Cup is a more suited race, but at the same time, I think he can run a really good race in the Caulfield Cup.”

Trainer Gai Waterhouse on Eliyass: “His work this morning was very short and sharp. I wanted to put the speed into his legs. Tim Clark came down from Sydney to ride him, he’s riding him on Saturday in the cup, and he was very happy with him. He races on the speed, he can be anywhere in the first five or six, and, hopefully, there’ll be a bit of speed in the race. A bit of wet, a bit of dry, I think he can take over.”

Chris Waller at Caulfield trackwork on Tuesday morning.Credit: Getty Images

Trainer Michael Kent Jr on Warmonger: “I think we’ve got him right where we want him fitness wise, but this morning was more of a mental day out to adrenalise him and fuel him up. He was very fresh and on toe, which is really good to see the horses thriving, much like he was heading into the Queensland derby. In the Turnbull Stakes (last-start 11th of 16), we never thought he’d have the turn of foot at set weights against those good weight-for-age 2000m horses. He’s a real stayer. And we saw that sustained stamina in the Queensland derby. The whole campaign has been about the Caulfield Cup, where we go up to 2400m, we drop back down in weight in a handicap, and the pace will be on. So if it is a stamina test, and there’s a bit of rain coming, that’s what will suit Warmonger.”

Race within a race

World-class hoops Zac Purton and Joao Moreira will renew their long-standing rivalry on horses from the same stable in the $5 million Caulfield Cup on Saturday.

Purton will fly in from Hong Kong to ride Chris Waller’s Land Legend in the group 1 handicap, while his former Hong Kong adversary, Moreira, will partner Waller’s other runner, and race favourite, Buckaroo.

From Waller’s perspective, he could not split the jockeys nor his horses on Tuesday.

“When you hand the horse over to a jockey, they’ve got to make the decisions, and those big race jockeys get the decisions right more often than not,” Waller said.

Track rider Kosi Kawakami takes Japanese runner Warp Speed out for a gallop at Caulfield on Tuesday morning.Credit: Getty Images

“Joao Moreira, he really is magic, and Zac Purton, he’s as good as. I’m sure he thinks he’s better than Joe. So it’s good to have two confident jockeys aboard, two world-class jockeys.”

Moreira, who has flown in from Brazil to base himself in Australia for the spring, has an ongoing association with Waller in the big races.

He has ridden Buckaroo at the gelding’s past two starts — second to Via Sistina in the group 1 Turnbull Stakes at Flemington and first in the group 1 Underwood Stakes at Caulfield.

“I’ve just got the most respect for him as a horse person and riding winners in big races. He’s one of the best jockeys I’ve used,” Waller said.

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