When Darren Weir returned to Australia from New Zealand on Tuesday evening he had no idea police were hours away from a dawn raid on his stables, let alone that police had been using secret cameras to watch his operation for almost six months.
Police had caught wind of Weir’s alleged malpractice in August 2018, just as the spring carnival was just about to roar into action, when Racing Victoria shared its evidence of his alleged wrongdoing.
Police raid Darren Weir’s stables on Wednesday morning.Credit:AAP
By the time officers raided his stables, they knew exactly what they were looking for.
They seized four electric-shock ‘jiggers’, cocaine as well as an unregistered firearm, and arrested Weir, stable foreman Jarrod McLean and strapper Tyson Kermond. They were questioned and released without charge.
Jiggers are used to zap horses with electric currents to make them run harder. Sometimes they are paired with pins or blinkers, so the next time the horse experiences the same sensation it reacts as if it has been given an electric shock.
Racing Victoria on Friday charged Weir and McLean with possession of electric-shock devices, failing to give evidence and comply with the direction of stewards at Thursday night's inquiry, and conduct prejudicial to the "image, interests or welfare of racing". Kermond was charged with failing to give evidence at an inquiry and failing to comply with stewards' directions.
Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Darren Weir at Racing Victoria offices on Thursday night.Credit:Jason South
They have been asked to show cause as to why they should not be suspended. Years-long penalties are expected if found guilty.
All nine of Weir's runners at Moonee Valley on Friday night were scratched, as are the rest his runners set to race at Caulfield this weekend.
The industry has been left reeling. Weir is a titan: his horses have won over $148 million since 2000 and he took home the 2015 Melbourne Cup. To get an idea of his horses' talent, 28 of the 183 entries for the 2018 Melbourne Cup were from his stables.
And the owners that entrust Weir with their multimillion dollar investments come from the top end of town.
They include Gerry Ryan, Ricky Ponting, Billy Slater, Cameron Smith, Terry Henderson, Simon O’Donnell, Sandy McGregor, Jonathan Munz, Sean Buckley and at one point United Arab Emirati royal and politician Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum.
Born in Victoria's Mallee district and raised on a farm, Weir left school at 15 and had a training licence by age 25 after working for other established trainers. None could have predicted the wild success he would strike when out on his own.
He has broken records, won trainers premierships and built an empire from scratch, without the backing of millions of Godolphin dollars or the prestige and history that follows names such as the Waterhouse or Cummings families.
His crowning moment, the quintessential Weir win, was the 2015 Melbourne Cup.
Like its trainer, Prince of Penzance came from nowhere to win the famous race. Michelle Payne was the first female jockey to win the Cup. That the horse paid 100-1 did more than add to the romance.
Darren Weir and Michelle Payne after Prince of Penzance won the 2015 Melbourne Cup.Credit:Justin McManus
Weir had come to embody a key side of one of this country’s most revered and mythologised sports: the ordinary bloke turned star trainer who helped ordinary people with a stake in an ordinary horse win an extraordinary race.
But now Weir allegedly embodies the other side of racing too. The side that sees some do anything to win.
Peter Ellis, Weir’s former long-time tactician and form analyst, said he hadn't worked with the trainer for more than a year, but that things had changed after the Melbourne Cup win. Weir’s operation rapidly expanded in both horses and owners and that made it tough to be across everything.
His racing operation is the biggest in Australia, with than 500 horses under his care collectively worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It is described as an industry within an industry.
Thousands of owners have been left in limbo, scrambling to find a trainer, stable or even a paddock to house their prized investments.
Rumours swirl about trainers ready to pounce on horses if Weir is suspended. Some said a trainer had inspected 60 boxes at Mornington on Thursday, others said floats were seen taking horses from Ballarat left, right and centre.
A number of trainers and owners told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that by Friday night most owners were seriously contemplating putting contingency plans into action as the reality of Weir's charges sank in.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Paterson said its investigation would probe "corrupting betting outcomes", which could lead to jail time on a guilty finding, although that would be for the most extreme cases only. Animal cruelty allegations are also in focus.
Weir is understood to have refused to answer questions when police showed him still images from the secret video taken from inside his stables.
Any threat to Weir's future affects the livelihoods of his staff as well as feed suppliers, horse transport companies and veterinary services.
There is also the question of what happens to horses bought in the expectation he would later find buyers for them. Will that spark a Weir fire sale? Will he be allowed to if found guilty?
Adding urgency to the situation for racing authorities is the upcoming autumn carnival, which Weir was expected to dominate. He also had 13 horses nominated for the All-Star Mile, Racing Victoria’s brand new race to be run on March 16, an event designed to attract a new generation of racing fans.
Weir's rise to top trainer in Australia's ultra-competitive racing industry was quick, meteoric and stunning in every way. These allegations and charges could see him fall just as swiftly.
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