Together, they were responsible for the health and wellbeing of donated, former race horses that had been retrained for life after the track.

But on Tuesday, Michelle Steele and Dennis Mitchell were hit with a string of charges, under the Australian Rules of Racing, following a Racing NSW inquiry into alleged horse cruelty and mistreatment at the Australian Turf Club's mounted security division.

Charged: Dennis Mitchell, the Australian Turf Club's general manager of security, risk and investigations.

As well as ceremonial duties on race days, the horses were used by the ATC as props-for-hire at festivals, private functions and in modelling shoots, as well as for television shows including Australia's Next Top Model.

However, according to explosive evidence aired at two Racing NSW hearings, all was not well behind the scenes, with ATC employees having allegedly engaged in a "deliberate program" of sedating the retired throroughbreds so they would behave during gruelling shifts.