Trainer, jockey disqualified for using 700 volt electric "jigger" on horses

VICTORIAN trainer Paul Preusker has been thrown out of racing for four years and young jockey Holly McKechnie for three years for using an electric "jigger" on horses in the hope of improving their performances.

Stewards found that Preusker and McKechnie, 23, his partner of 12 months, had used the device to send 700 volts of electricity through their horses' necks to get them to sprint home.

The practice was described as "abhorrent" by Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board deputy chairman Brian Forrest when he handed down the penalty to Preusker yesterday. The 34-year-old trainer had maintained he was innocent.

"The use of electrical devices on horses is an abhorrent practice and tarnishes the image of the racing industry."

Preusker, who worked around 45 horses on his McKenzie's Creek property, near Horsham in north-west Victoria, was yesterday found guilty of one charge of having in his possession an electric apparatus and two charges of being a party to McKechnie committing a breach of the rules.

The charges came about after an undercover Racing Victoria Limited investigation team conducted a raid during trackwork at Horsham racecourse on November 14. Preusker, who has Drink Up Mason engaged in today's Syntax Hcp (1500m) at Sandown, said he would not appeal.

"That's the penalty, there are no real guidelines. That's the system and you have to respect it," he said.

But Jack Forrest, representing the RVL stewards, said using a jigger was one of the most serious offences in racing, cruel to the animal and an unfair advantage or cheating.

"It goes right to the heart of the image of racing," he said.

Last month the RADB disqualified Horsham owner-trainer Nicole Boyd for three years on three charges relating to an electrical device, in that case a cattle prod, which was found in the raid by RVL investigators.