A horse trainer says police pepper-sprayed him while he was trying to return his race-winning mare to Flemington Racecourse after the Melbourne Cup.
Accredited trainer Saab Hasan says he was trying to return Red Gucci to the stables after she won a race at Wangaratta on Tuesday, when an officer at the gate refused him entry and pepper-sprayed him.
"I said to the officer, 'if you're going to refuse the car and the float entry, I've got no choice other than to unload the horse for its safety... and he pepper-sprayed me," Mr Hasan told 3AW on Wednesday.
"Furthermore, he never charged me, he ever arrested me, never issued me with anything, so I clearly didn't do anything wrong."
Victoria Police said it could not comment while the case was being investigated.
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"Police are investigating an alleged incident where a horse trainer was sprayed with OC at Flemington at 6.45pm on November 7," police said in a statement.
Mr Hasan said he eventually got Red Gucci back to a stable and reported the incident to the officer's superior.
"His response was 'what do you want me to do about it?'," the trainer said.
"At the end of the day, an apology would be nice. Why use unnecessary force on people? ... I'm not a criminal."
