Ex-trainer Darren Weir’s disqualification will run through until September 2026, after his appeal to the Supreme Court over the terms of his current two-year ban from Racing Victoria was denied.
The latest installment in the long-running Weir case involved a challenge to the terms of Weir’s disqualification and whether it involved the ex-trainer being punished twice for the same offence.
The latest disqualification did not begin until Weir stopped operating his pre-training businesses in September last year.
Supreme Court Justice Adrian Finanzio could not be satisfied that the Victoria Racing Tribunal erred on legal grounds in its decision handed down in July last year.
It means Weir is unable to operate his pre-training business, nor re-apply for his trainer’s licence until the expiry of the disqualification.
Weir had been originally disqualified for four years from 2019 to 2023 for the possession of an electronic device. He was able to operate his pre-training operation at Baringhup in central Victoria while the second case was proceeding to court.
Weir, who has prepared the winners of 36 Group 1 races and was Australia’s leading trainer in terms of winners for much of the 2010s, has not trained since his Ballarat and Warrnambool stables were raided in January 2019.
His re-licensing would need to be approved by the Racing Victoria board.
