Always back the horse named self-interest, son. It'll be the only one trying
The Magistrate in the Weir case says that if the Melbourne Cup winning trainer hadn’t pleaded guilty he would have been going to jail. If that is not a statement that should send chills down every animal abusing cheat’s spine, then I don’t know what it. How the Magistrate reconciles his statement with the fact […]
When Tosel Basil died in December 2018 racing.com – presumably relying on advice from either Ozzie Kheir or Darren Weir – reported that the horse had been spelled after a disappointing rub in the Mooney Valley Cup. That race was run on the 26th of October 2018. Yet on 30 October – four days later […]
The news that Darren Weir has today pleaded guilty to criminal charges of animal cruelty in relation to the use of a jigger on three horses spells the end of his career in racing forever, and co-offenders Jarrod McLean and Tyson Kermond’s too. Although Weir’s four-year disqualification from training relating to the same offence expires […]
Senior steward on the ground in Birdsville told the inquiry they were not required to search the campsites of Austin or McMahon the morning after the image was posted on Twitter, despite having the power to do so. Rion Hitchener said former chief steward Peter Chadwick instructed him and fellow stipe Ben Cook not to […]
Yet another international galloper has been scratched from racing in Victoria in a big race. This time it is the English galloper Without A Thought, who – like Durston in the Caulfield Cup – was the favourite to win the Zipping Classic being run at Caulfield tomorrow. During the repeated CT scanning taking process applied […]
Illegally doping racehorses is animal abuse in the service of greed. Such corruption threatens the health of racehorses and undermines the integrity of the sport. Today, three defendants have been sentenced for their roles in perpetuating, and profiting from, the mistreatment of animals. The sentences each defendant received appropriately reflects the seriousness of […]
Jockey Ric McMahon has delivered bombshell evidence in the first day of the Birdsville Cup jigger stewards’ inquiry, claiming trainer Todd Austin handed him the electrical device and told him to use it on a horse’s neck during track work. McMahon told the Doomben hearing that Austin handed him a jigger to use on one […]
We have written about former racing Steward Neil Boyle on a number of occasions. It is our view that after the incident involving him sending unwanted lewd texts and pictures to an apprentice jockey a couple of years ago – actions that saw him quietly walked out the door – he should never have been […]
Part 2 Offences 5 Cruelty to animals (1) A person shall not commit an act of cruelty upon an animal. (2) A person in charge of an animal shall not authorise the commission of an act of cruelty upon the animal. (3) A person in charge of an animal shall not fail at any time— (a) to exercise […]
We are told by various sources that the person who took the video of Mitchell Hutchings bashing a tied up and defenceless horse with a hammer is the anti-hero’s brother Brett Hutchings. Brett Hutchings is the track curator at the Parkes Harness Racing Club. He was also the recipient of last year’s Parkes Young Driver […]
