Prominent Australian horse trainer Darren Weir will begin his latest ban from all racing next week and will not be seen again until after the 2026 spring carnival for using an electronic shock device on his horses.
The Victorian Racing Tribunal announced on Monday that the 2015 Melbourne Cup winner would serve another two years without attending a racetrack or making any direct or indirect financial gain from the industry.
That includes breeding on his property or even leasing the facility out to other trainers.
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It comes less than two years since Weir finished serving his last suspension, a four-year ban for the possession of three electric shock devices, known as jiggers.
That disqualification ended in February 7, 2023, but Weir was yet to reapply for a Racing Victoria trainer’s licence since then. Given that, Weir’s legal representation Ian Hill KC pitched to the tribunal that the ban be backdated to last February, leaving Weir with just another six months to serve.
But John Bowman, Kathryn Kings, and ex-chairman of stewards Des Gleeson, who made up the tribunal panel, denied that request.
“He has not applied for a trainer’s licence, but he has been able to carry on a large enterprise relating to thoroughbred horses,” Bowman said.
“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 cannot be seen as a period of penalty.”
Until weeks ago, Weir had been employing over 30 people to work with more than 100 horses in a pre-training operation, which didn’t require a licence.
The veteran trainer has until Monday to completely shut down his facility in central-west Victoria, just south of Bendigo.
His combined suspensions will total nearly eight years by the end of the 2026 spring carnival.
In December 2022, Weir was fined $36,000 by Warnambool Magistrates Court after admitting to cruelly using the electronic device.
Weir, his Warrnambool-based trainer Jarrod McLean and stablehand Tyson Kermond had been captured on covertly-installed surveillance devices using an electronic prod, poly pipe and blinkers on three Melbourne Cup hopefuls during the 2018 Spring Carnival.
McLean was also fined $36,000 after admitting three animal cruelty charges while Kermond, found to be less complicit because of his position, must make a $10,000 donation to the RSPCA.
Over 30 minutes on October 30 the trio used the devices on three horses being trained at Weir’s Warrnambool facility.
Tosen Basil and Yogi, two horses nominated to run in the cup, were each prodded nine times with the device.
Red Cardinal, the only one of the three to actually race in the cup that year, was shocked seven times. With a $31 chance, it came last in the cup a week later.
CCTV footage capturing the offending was played in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Wednesday afternoon.
Magistrate Franz Holzer said the men should have known better and should be shamed for their abhorrent animal cruelty, but did not impose convictions.
“They’ll be shunned within the racing and animal fraternity for a range of probably very proper reasons,” he said.
“It’s fair to say Warrnambool is a very small town and the racing industry is a very small industry and people will talk and have talked – that’s a punishment each of these men will carry with them for the rest of their lives.”
McLean and Kermond had their respective penalties halved by the tribunal on review — the former will serve nine months instead of 18, while the latter has three months instead of six, but a start date has yet to be determined.
Despite the new ban announced on Monday, Weir was in April cleared of attempting to corrupt the outcome of races
Weir won the Melbourne Cup in 2015 when Michelle Payne powered Prince Of Penzance home.
He started his career as a strapper and worked his way up to employing nearly 200 people to work with more than 500 horses.