A gun and taser have been seized and three people were arrested after police raids on Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Darren weir.
Victoria Police and Racing Victoria raided stables at Miners rest and Warrnambool from 6am on Wednesday morning.
Three people have been arrested including a 48-year-old Miners Rest man said to be Darren Weir himself, a 38-year-old Yangery man and a 26-year-old Warrnambool man, Victoria Police said in a statement.
“They will now be interviewed in relation to sporting integrity matters including obtain financial advantage by deception, engaging in conduct that corrupts or would corrupt a betting outcome of event or event contingency, use of corrupt conduct information for betting purposes, and attempt to commit indictable offence namely obtain financial advantage by deception,” it said.
The force said several items had also been seized including a firearm and conductive energy device (taser).
Racing Victoria said it had been investigating “the activities of licensed persons” and brought in Victoria Police.
“During the course of our investigation, we sought the support of Victoria Police’s sporting integrity intelligence unit on the matter, instigating their investigation,” executive general manager of integrity Jamie Stier, said in a statement.
“As the matters are the subject of on-going investigations by Victoria Police and Racing Victoria we are not at liberty at this time to disclose the identities of the persons arrested nor the details of the investigations.
“Racing Victoria is committed to maintaining the highest integrity standards in our sport and, where appropriate, we will continue to work with Victoria Police on those investigations.”
Weir is one of Australia’s best-known horse trainers and was behind the 2015 Melbourne Cup winner Prince of Penzance.
He’s Australia’s most prolific and successful trainer.
