Police raid stables of horse trainer Darren Weir

Three men have been arrested and a gun and what is thought to be a Taser seized during twin raids of stables owned by prominent horse trainer Darren Weir.

Uniformed and plain-clothed officers swooped on stables at Miners Rest, near Ballarat, and in Warrnambool early on Wednesday morning.

A 48-year-old Miners Rest man, a 38-year-old Yangery man and a 26-year-old Warrnambool man were arrested, and a number of items - including a firearm and a conducted energy device - were seized.

Detectives from Victoria Police's Sporting Integrity Intelligence Unit will now interview the three men.

Racing Victoria's executive general manager of the integrity unit, Jamie Stier, confirmed three people had been arrested as they investigated potential offences against the rules of racing.

“Racing Victoria’s Integrity Services team has been conducting an investigation into the activities of licensed persons in the Warrnambool and Ballarat areas," he said.

"During the course of our investigation we sought the support of Victoria Police’s Sporting Integrity Intelligence Unit on the matter, instigating their investigation.

“The Sporting Integrity Intelligence Unit this morning executed warrants at properties in Warrnambool and Ballarat where they arrested three licensed persons for questioning.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the trio would be interviewed in relation to sporting integrity matters, including obtaining financial advantage by deception, engaging in conduct that corrupts or would corrupt a betting outcome of an event or event contingency, use of corrupt conduct information for betting purposes, and attempting to commit an indictable offence namely obtain financial advantage by deception.

Due to the ongoing investigation, he would not comment on the details of those arrested.

At about 6am Australian Federal Police wearing vests, Racing Victoria compliance team officials and Victoria Police sports integrity unit officers took part in the searches.

It is understood some vehicles and cars were also examined at Warrnambool and Ballarat.

There have been persistent rumours during the past two months of a significant investigation.

The RSPCA said it was unaware of any investigation when contacted by The Warrnambool Standard in the past two weeks.

RSN Racing & Sport radio reports federal police visited Weir’s Ballarat stables some weeks ago where they may have seized an item central to an on-going inquiry.

Weir has five runners due to race at Mornington on Wednesday.

Weir, 48, has been training horses since 1995, recently taking out the Melbourne Cup with Prince of Penzance in 2015.

He is currently the most successful trainer in the national trainer's premiership, and counts hundreds of horses as part of his stable.

Born in Berriwillock, a small Mallee District town in Victoria, Mr Weir left school at age 15 to work under experienced trainers.

He moved to Ballarat in 2001 and later acquired stables at Warrnambool to compliment his Ballarat base.

Weir holds the Commonwealth training record for most number of wins in a season, first breaking it in season 2015/16 with 348 wins, and eclipsing it again each year since.

Article courtesy of Nine and The Canberra Times