Secret footage of disgraced Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Darren Weir shocking a horse with a jigger at his Warrnambool stables has been released to the public.
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The footage released on September 5, almost seven years after it was shot from a secret camera in the rafters of Weir's stables in Warrnambool, Victoria, was relied on by police in animal cruelty prosecutions.
Weir can be seen shocking a horse with a jigger, watched by his Warrnambool stable foreman Jarrod McLean and stablehand Tyson Kermond in 2018.
The footage was used as evidence when the trio faced police charges of animal cruelty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court in December 2022. Weir and McLean, who pleaded guilty, were fined $12,000 on each of three charges, a total of $36,000 each. No convictions were recorded.
Kermond was not convicted and placed on a two-year good behaviour bond with the condition he make a $10,000 donation to the RSPCA.
Weir was originally disqualified from racing for four years from 2019 to 2023 for the possession of an electronic device and in 2024 the Victorian Racing Tribunal banned him for two further years for the use of the device. Weir's ban remains in place until September 2026.
McLean and Kermond's bans have ended.
The footage was released by the Victorian Racing Tribunal after requests from media outlets Nine and the Herald Sun. Chairman Peter Reardon said the footage was released to assist the public fully understand "and see for themselves" what had transpired.
William Stanley
William is a journalist at the Warrnambool Standard. Reach out with news or updates to william.stanley@warrnamboolstandard.com.au
