Allegations that former Warrnambool horse trainer Jarrod McLean was part of a betting conspiracy for the 2018 Melbourne Cup have some deficiencies, a magistrate says.
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McLean was allegedly part of an illicit training regime with his Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Darren Weir and stablehand Tyson Kermond to defraud officials during the spring racing carnival.
He is accused of placing bets on horses he allegedly helped torture in the lead-up to the 2018 Melbourne Cup.
But magistrate Ronald Saines told Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Thursday that the charges "have likely got some deficiencies".
He said transcripts of secretly recorded phone calls revealed "a bit of banter around who is betting, running and racing but there is almost nothing that would, on my reading, support a conclusion that that is either encouragement or communication of corrupt information".
It came after McLean's lawyer, Jason Gullaci, told the court in September that police took "the footy highlights" of a transcript to misrepresent evidence.
He also said the four bets his client was charged over were unsuccessful.
READ more: Jarrod McLean, Darren Weir charges
Crown prosecutor Melissa Mahady said on Thursday the "communication of corrupt information" was put on the basis that McLean knew about the corrupt training regime.
She agreed that the reference to a jigger in the telephone intercepts related to a steward using a device to identify microchips and not "the jigger relating to the training".
Ian Hill QC, representing Weir, said the stewards were not performing a public duty and were therefore not committing a criminal offence.
"If the stewards are not public officials exercising a public duty, which we say they clearly aren't by law, then they cannot be a victim of a conspiracy," he said.
Mr Hill told the court that breaching the rules of racing was not a criminal offence.
"It may well cause one to be prosecuted and disciplined under the rules of racing but it does not mean that it is a criminal offence," he said.
"That has to be carefully kept in mind when considering the circumstances of this case."
The magistrate adjourned the committal hearing due to a "deluge" of material submitted.
The committal hearing will resume on October 19.
