Cricket: Horse trainer Kim Waugh, wife of former Australian batsman Mark Waugh, charged with animal cruelty

Former Australian cricket Mark Waugh (left) and racehorse trainer Kim Waugh. Photo / news.com.au

Trainer Kim Waugh, the wife of Aussie cricket great Mark Waugh, will front a stewards hearing this month after being charged with three animal cruelty charges.

The veteran trainer is reportedly set to fight the charges and has denied the accusations when speaking with people close to her.

Racing NSW stewards announced on Thursday she and jockey Serg Lisnyy have both been charged with failures of animal welfare following an investigation last month.

The charges relate to three-year-old gelding Tarsus and injuries sustained during a Wyong trackwork in March.

Mark Waugh has been publicly listed as one of the part-owners of the horse.

Kim Waugh's charges include "failing to exercise reasonable care or supervision to the racehorse Tarsus to prevent an act of cruelty".

She has also been charged with failing to report an alleged act of mistreatment and improper conduct towards an employee said to have reported the alleged mistreatment.

Kim Waugh, the wife of former Australian cricketer Mark Waugh, looks on during Sydney Racing at Rosehill Gardens. Photo / Getty Images

The charges relate to Lisnyy being accused of using spurs that were too sharp and using them "in a manner that mistreated the horse and resulted in Tarsus sustaining injuries to its off side flank region".

It's Waugh's first welfare charges in more than 30 years in the racing industry. The Sydney Morning Herald reports Waugh did not attend the trackwork session in which Tarsus was alleged to have sustained the injuries.

The report details Waugh's Central Coast stable recorded prize money of more than $1.4 million since January, 2020.

Waugh will front the hearing at Racing NSW headquarters on May 20.

Racing NSW alleges in the charges that Lisnyy used spurs that were not blunt enough, but the jockey has said publicly he will fight the charges.

"I don't think the charges are right," he said. "They were normal spurs and similar to ones used by kids at pony club. I will be protesting my innocence and these charges are not good for business."