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Melbourne Cup-winning horse trainer Darren Weir has been fined $36,000 after admitting cruelly using an electronic cattle prod on three horses because of the pressure of expectations on him.
He, 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, 2018 the trio used a jigger device 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."
Weir has effectively become a recluse because of the shame of his offending, his barrister Ian Hill KC said.
It occurred in circumstances where he felt under pressure by owners who had certain expectations, he said.
The horses had not been training at an optimum level and Weir thought the treatment might help them train better, get fitter and perform better.
Mr Hill said Weir, who trained Michelle Payne-ridden outside chance Prince of Penzance to a win in the 2015 Melbourne Cup, hopes to return to training after a four-year ban imposed by Racing Victoria in February 2019 expires.
"That's all he knows, the training of horses," he said. Weir was a natural talent who had an affinity and love of horses, he said.
Weir started his career as a strapper and worked his way up to employing nearly 200 people to work with more than 500 horses.
Equine behaviour expert Andrew McLean found the jigger technique used by the trio was likely designed to achieve a predictive reaction from the horses, so they would accelerate as a result of the fear or pain associations to the jigger, poly pipe and blinkers acquired during training.
Dr McLean said use of jiggers could result in behavioural disorders including aggression and hyper-reactivity, as well as colic and gut disorders, and eventually learned helplessness.
Weir also pleaded guilty to a firearm possession charge, while McLean admitted possessing cocaine.
McLean's barrister said his fall from grace had been public, abrupt and traumatic. A qualified chef, he has since worked as a garbage truck driver, a farmhand and is now a venue manager.