The allegations against Darren Weir represent the greatest scandal in local racing history.
It has cast a shadow over all of Weir’s wins, including multiple group 1s and even the Melbourne Cup. It was NSW authorities that moved first. Racing NSW issued a show-cause summons calling Weir to show cause why they should accept his nominations.
Racing Victoria followed suit, with the hearing set down for today. A show-cause is a legal process whereby the person affected appears before the stewards and presents evidence or makes submissions as to why the stewards should accept nominations for their horses, pending allegations.
Scandal: Jarrod McLean and Darren Weir (centre) face lengthy bans.Credit:AAP
Instead, what happened was a behind-closed-doors mediation of the allegations, the outcome of which is that Weir will not contest the charges levelled against him and will agree to a four-year disqualification on the basis that the stewards recommend that penalty before the RAD Tribunal on Wednesday.
Four years? Paul Preusker got four years in 2007 and that was for one jigger. On what we know of the circumstances, the damage done to racing by the allegations against Weir, Australia’s most prolific trainer, cannot be overstated.
Surely, this can’t be the end of Racing Victoria’s investigation. How about the duty of the stewards to investigate what horses were subject to the cruel practice, for how many years and for what races etc? Did they examine how Weir’s horses were ridden for signs the practice was being employed?
Traditionally, it needed compliance with a jockey who would jab the horse on the neck (without the jigger) and the horse would associate the jabbing with the conditioning of the jigger given in training.
Have the stewards interviewed a number of employees of Weir?
RV says the case is complicated. How can that be? I think the public is entitled to know why it is complicated and let it be the judge. What seems to be known is the finding of four jiggers, at least three of them on property owned or controlled by Weir. What could be more simple than that? And four jiggers? An inference can be drawn that there were multiple horses involved. Compounding matters was Weir’s refusal to answer all the questions.
And that’s not to forget his previous failures to have horses where they should have been, thus possibly evading scrutiny. In 2009, he had a late scratching on Ballarat Cup day when stewards discovered his horse had been transferred to another stable. Two months later, another runner was a late scratching at Caulfield after Weir failed to notify stewards of its whereabouts.
In 2013, Weir had a horse, Platelet, scratched by stewards from the VRC Sprint because it was listed as being at a different stable. Weir explained this was a clerical error.
It is not the first time RV has handled affairs in a manner that has raised eyebrows. Remember the Damien Oliver betting scandal in 2012? Two years prior, on October 1, Oliver placed a $10,000 bet on Miss Octopussy, a horse he was riding against at Moonee Valley. RV stewards eventually banned him for 10 months (eight months for the bet and two months for having a mobile phone in the jockeys’ room), but not until mid-November, well after the end of the spring carnival, during which time Oliver won two group 1s.
A high-water mark was when Craig Williams admitted he had stuffed farriers’ tools in his boots because he was afraid of weighing in light. It was more or less treated it as a joke and he was fined just $2000. The horse won but what if it had been beaten by a head?
When you think of the cobalt affair, the Aquanita scandal, and now this with Weir, that is six of our top trainers who have come under scrutiny. It makes you wonder why anyone would get involved in racing.
About two years ago, I wrote to Victorian Racing Minister Martin Pakula about dummy bidding at horse sales. I said I had witnessed it and pointed out some horses sold for comparable amounts as the best homes. Months later, I received some airy-fairy reply, which led nowhere. If ever a royal commission was warranted, it is into the racing industry.
Dyson Hore-Lacy SC is a Melbourne barrister, former Fitzroy Football Club president and the brother of trainer Rick Hore-Lacy.
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