{"id":148255,"date":"2020-09-10T09:59:23","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T16:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=148255"},"modified":"2020-09-10T11:33:19","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T18:33:19","slug":"trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie Trainers Accused of Torturing Horses in Melbourne Cup Betting Conspiracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian thoroughbred trainer Darren Weir told Ballarat Magistrates Court near Melbourne of his love of horses Wednesday, adding that he did not \u201ctrain them for the punt [betting].\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Darren
Darren Weir (left) and Jarrod Mclean are accused of using banned \u201cjiggers\u201d on horses in a bid to make them run faster. (Image: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Weir is accused of conspiracy to defraud and animal cruelty after police filmed him using illegal battery-powered shock devices, known as \u201cjiggers,\u201d on horses in the days leading up to the 2018 Melbourne Cup<\/a>. In the US jiggers are also known as \u201cbatteries,\u201d or \u201cbuzzers.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s alleged the 2015 Melbourne Cup winner employed the banned \u201cgo-faster\u201d devices on Yogi, Red Cardinal, and Tosen Basil while they ran on treadmills.<\/p>\n

How Do Jiggers Work on Horses?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jiggers are used as a form of Pavlovian conditioning, or associative learning, to ensure that a horse anticipates a shock when some kind of trigger, such as the butt of a jockey\u2019s whip, is applied during a real race.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory tells us that they are used sometimes three days before a race by running the batteries up and down the horse\u2019s neck followed by a loud roar from the jockey. And that practice is repeated in an actual race, this time with the butt of the whip substituting for the battery,\u201d Dr. Glenn Robertson-Smith, one of Australia\u2019s most respected veterinary surgeons, told The Guardian<\/em> last year.<\/p>\n

Horses are flight and fright animals that can run on fear and fear alone,\u201d <\/strong>he added. \u201cIf horses are terrified, they can run sometimes until they drop.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Losing Bets<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In court was assistant trainer Jarrod McLean, who was working for Weir at the time. He is accused of beating the animals with plastic hosing and of placing “corrupt bets\u201d on the horses he tortured.<\/p>\n

\n

But, as reported by The Newcastle Herald<\/em>, his lawyer, Jason Gullaci, argued Wednesday that the betting conspiracy<\/a> charges didn\u2019t add up. Gullaci noted that four bets his client was charged with making, including one on Melbourne Cup runner Red Cardinal, were losing bets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Defending Weir, Ian Hill QC noted that despite police secretly filming two stables owned by his client from October 25 to November 13, 2018, there was no other \u201cuntoward\u201d footage of animals being hurt.<\/p>\n

\u201cApart from one occasion, when I saw them being tortured,\u201d shot back Detective Senior Constable Cliff Pickett.<\/p>\n

Victoria Police raided Weir\u2019s properties in January 2019, seizing four jiggers, an incident described by racing officials as \u201cbruising for the reputation of the industry.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTo have these battery-operated pieces of equipment is absolutely unforgivable, and those who use them should face life bans from racing and criminal animal cruelty charges with possible jail time,\u201d said Robertson-Smith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian thoroughbred trainer Darren Weir told Ballarat Magistrates Court near Melbourne of his love of horses Wednesday, adding that he did not \u201ctrain them for the punt [betting].\u201d Weir is accused of conspiracy to defraud and animal cruelty after police filmed him using illegal battery-powered shock devices, known as \u201cjiggers,\u201d on horses in the days […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":148257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14577],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTrainers Accused of Torturing Horses in Melbourne Cup Betting Conspiracy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Trainer Darren Weir and Jarrod McClean are accused of using torturing horses with jiggers to make them run faster at 2018 Melbourne Cup.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trainers Accused of Torturing Horses in Melbourne Cup Betting Conspiracy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trainer Darren Weir and Jarrod McClean are accused of using torturing horses with jiggers to make them run faster at 2018 Melbourne Cup.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-10T16:59:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-10T18:33:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/darren-weir-and-jarrod-mclean-1548810170_1352x900.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1352\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/\",\"name\":\"Trainers Accused of Torturing Horses in Melbourne Cup Betting Conspiracy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/darren-weir-and-jarrod-mclean-1548810170_1352x900.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-10T16:59:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-10T18:33:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Trainer Darren Weir and Jarrod McClean are accused of using torturing horses with jiggers to make them run faster at 2018 Melbourne Cup.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/darren-weir-and-jarrod-mclean-1548810170_1352x900.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/darren-weir-and-jarrod-mclean-1548810170_1352x900.jpg\",\"width\":1352,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Darren Weir (left) and Jarrod Mclean are accused of using banned \u201cjiggers\u201d on horses in a bid to make them run faster. (Image: Getty)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Aussie Trainers Accused of Torturing Horses in Melbourne Cup Betting Conspiracy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trainers Accused of Torturing Horses in Melbourne Cup Betting Conspiracy","description":"Trainer Darren Weir and Jarrod McClean are accused of using torturing horses with jiggers to make them run faster at 2018 Melbourne Cup.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trainers Accused of Torturing Horses in Melbourne Cup Betting Conspiracy","og_description":"Trainer Darren Weir and Jarrod McClean are accused of using torturing horses with jiggers to make them run faster at 2018 Melbourne Cup.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2020-09-10T16:59:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-09-10T18:33:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1352,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/darren-weir-and-jarrod-mclean-1548810170_1352x900.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/","name":"Trainers Accused of Torturing Horses in Melbourne Cup Betting Conspiracy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/darren-weir-and-jarrod-mclean-1548810170_1352x900.jpg","datePublished":"2020-09-10T16:59:23+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-10T18:33:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Trainer Darren Weir and Jarrod McClean are accused of using torturing horses with jiggers to make them run faster at 2018 Melbourne Cup.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/darren-weir-and-jarrod-mclean-1548810170_1352x900.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/darren-weir-and-jarrod-mclean-1548810170_1352x900.jpg","width":1352,"height":900,"caption":"Darren Weir (left) and Jarrod Mclean are accused of using banned \u201cjiggers\u201d on horses in a bid to make them run faster. (Image: Getty)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/trainers-accused-of-torturing-horses-in-melbourne-cup-betting-conspiracy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Aussie Trainers Accused of Torturing Horses in Melbourne Cup Betting Conspiracy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148255"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}