Bryce Stanaway

Trainer Bryce Stanaway has refuted the charge he had threatened to 'put down' an industry veterinarian after he gave one of the trainer's horses immediate treatment when it had been pulled up out of a race at Bendigo last year.

Dr Chris Heislers gave evidence to the Victorian Racing Tribunal on Monday that he heard Stanaway say words about shooting him after Heislers had sedated the injured horse Moorabool and organised a splint to be put on the mare's injured leg, which he had ruled was 'three-out-of-five' lame.

"I vaguely remember him saying he would shoot me or the horse or something along those lines," Heislers told the VRT. "I can't remember a lot of the specifics in regards to the words he used.

"He was very upset. He was very aggressive and intimidating and at one point in time came up close into my face a bit. I can't remember a lot of the actual words that were used. I was focussing on the injured horse.

"He was running up from the horse area, the mounting yard up the straight and I could hear someone shouting. He was angry, frustrated. I asked him who he was."

Justin Hooper, who was appearing for the stewards, asked the day's final witness, barrier attendant Daniel Baxter, what he heard Stanaway say to Heislers.

"He was doing a little bit of swearing and things like that," Baxter said. "He wasn't happy with what was happening.

"I don't think in the heat of the moment he meant it this way but he said 'I'll take the bloody horse home and put it down then put you down'."

Stanaway said he would swear on his life he didn't say those words.

"I didn't say I was going to shoot you or put you down," Stanaway said to the vet under cross-examination. "I said I'd be better off shooting the horse.

"You were under pressure. I was under pressure, but this got out of control.

"I hope we've got that straight that I didn't want to put you down."

The alleged threats form part of the seven charges laid against Stanaway over the incident near the home turn at Bendigo last October and later at Stanaway's Torquay stables.

Stanaway represented himself at the hearing and pleaded not guilty to all charges. He said 'acts of cruelty' were conducted on Moorabool on the track by RV vets and that was the cause of his angry mood.

The VRT said Moorabool had been pulled up by her rider Laura Lafferty at around the home turn at Bendigo and Heislers said he could immediately notice the horse was lame.

Heislers said he could see the horse was 'sinking down with the fetlock almost on the ground' and that there was swelling around the tendon.

In order to treat the leg, Moorabool had to be sedated but Stanaway said he resented a stallion chain being put on the mare and said she could not take a needle.

He later complained more injury might have been done to her tendon when she was getting the injection as she was hastily walking around in circles during the process when her leg should have been kept stable.

"You were under pressure because of horse welfare," Stanaway told the vet. "I understand that, but this mare is uninjectable. So, for you to do that, you must be a bit of a horse whisperer.

"I am a horse lover, not a horse killer, my horses come first."

Heislers said he had no doubt as to the treatment, which included the application of the splint, that the injured mare required immediately.

"I need to do this," Heislers said to Stanaway. "The horse is at risk if I don't do this. There is no harm in doing this, only something to gain.

"From an animal welfare point of view, the horse needed a splint, so I proceeded to put a splint on."

Stanaway later took the splint off the horse's injured leg and said he just wanted to get her back home and apply salt water, ice and a gel to help with inflammation.

Stanaway said Moorabool has since recovered and has been rehomed.

The hearing into charges including allegedly using threatening and abusive language, of intimidation, of engaging in abusive conduct and the obstruction of veterinary stewards in performing their duties, continues on Tuesday.