Greyhound racing: Top NSW trainer and owner confirm star dogs broken in by live baiter Zeke Kadir

The ABC can reveal 12 greyhounds currently suspended from racing in NSW belong to the state's top trainer-owner pair, Jason Mackay and Martin Hallinan, taking the total number of suspended dogs in the state to 40.

Based in Richmond Vale in the Hunter Valley, Mr Mackay is the state's star trainer. He has been awarded the prestigious Greyhound of the Year title three times.

Speaking to the ABC, Mr Mackay confirmed he had for several years used the services of Zeke Kadir, also known as Ziggy and revealed by the ABC's Four Corners program as a live baiter.

But Mr Mackay said he had never witnessed live baiting occurring while he had been at Mr Kadir's Wilshire Park facility.

"Over the years, yes, I have sent dogs to Ziggy to correct their box manners and be broken in," Mr Mackay said.

"I have never been near the bull ring and I have never seen live baiting there. I never go near the bull ring, I only go to the kennels.

"I have been to Ziggy's a few times. I only ever drop my dogs off or pick my dogs up in the back of my trailer."

When asked whether Mr Kadir was live baiting his dogs, Mr Mackay denied any knowledge of the illegal practice occurring.

"I don't know about that. I only use squeakers and animal skins," he said.

But the ABC can reveal Mr Mackay and greyhound owner Mr Hallinan had 12 dogs from two different litters being broken in at Mr Kadir's facility in the weeks before Four Corners went to air in February.

The dogs were recently removed from Mr Kadir's property.

Mr Mackay says none of the 12 dogs have been named, nor have they begun racing.

"They were at Ziggy's for about two weeks," he said.

"All 12 of them have been suspended by Greyhound Racing NSW so none of them can race.

"Seven of them are on my property, and five of them are back with owner Martin Hallinan."

Owner Mr Hallinan, an icon in NSW, told the ABC Mr Kadir had also broken in two of his up-and-comers, Zipping Eastwood and Zipping Carter.

"This was about six months ago and since then they have had about 10 to 15 starts and they are good dogs," he said.

Both dogs are trained by Mr Mackay and have won more than $30,000 since November 2014.

The ABC asked Mr Hallinan whether he believed Mr Kadir had broken them in using live animals.

"I'm being really honest with you," he said.

"To be honest I don't know what he does. I can't guarantee anything at the moment. But under my knowledge they haven't been live baited and I am confident they haven't been live baited."

Mr Hallinan said he had never seen live baiting occurring at Mr Kadir's property.

Mackay was due to be investigated by GRNSW over live baiting allegations

Mr Mackay also told the ABC he was due to be investigated by Greyhound Racing NSW for alleged live baiting in the weeks prior to Four Corners going to air.

"Brad Frost, the head of Animal Welfare at GRNSW, rang me after I won a Group One race, the National Futurity, a few weeks ago," he said.

"He [Mr Frost] told me 'we have received a complaint that you were using live bait on a Sunday at your place'."

But Mr Mackay said Greyhound Racing NSW never came out to his property to follow-up or investigate further.

"They didn't come out and have a look because all this stuff with Four Corners happened and they just didn't come out and look at my place, so I got adjourned," he said.

It is not the first time Mr Mackay has been investigated for live baiting.

Mr Mackay said he had been the subject of two other anonymous complaints alleging he was using live rabbits to blood dogs at his Hunter Valley property.

"Both times the RSPCA came here," he said.

"They went all over my property, I showed them anywhere and everywhere they wanted to go. They never found anything here. I don't live bait.

"As soon as you succeed in greyhound racing, the grubs try to drag you down with them, making up all sorts of lies, 'he must be doping, he must be doing this or he must be doing that because he's winning'.

"I'm the only person to have won three Greyhound of the Year titles. When you win in this sport, when you succeed, people come out to get you."

Mackay and Hallinan connected to live baiter in Victoria

Mr Mackay and Mr Hallinan are not connected to just one live baiter engulfed in the current scandal.

They are also linked to a central figure in Victoria, master trainer Darren McDonald.

Victoria's top trainer, Mr McDonald was caught on camera live baiting several greyhounds with a pink piglet at the Tooradin Trial Track, three days ahead of the 2014 Melbourne Cup.

Two of Mr Hallinan's top dogs, Zipping Willow and Zipping Saxon — worth more than a combined $200,000 in recent prize money, were transferred from Mr Mackay in NSW to Victoria to be trained by Mr McDonald in the weeks before Four Corners went to air.

Zipping Willow, under the care of Mr Mackay, was nominated for the prestigious NSW Greyhound of the Year award.

The awards, due to be held in February, were cancelled after Four Corners went to air.

Both Zipping Willow and Zipping Saxon have been returned to NSW and cleared to race.

Mr Hallinan told the ABC he did not believe either dogs were live baited by Mr McDonald while in Victoria.

"They were only with Darren for nine days before Four Corners came out," he said.

"But it's a mess, it's a really big mess. I never thought anything like this would ever happen to the industry.

"A lot of good can come out of this, but a lot of rules will need to change and people doing the wrong thing have to be gotten rid of.

"To be honest, I did hear rumours about Tom Noble in Queensland, that he was a live baiter. But you never know what people are doing. Live baiting, you don't know who does what. You hear a lot of rumours."

Undercover investigator backs-up claims

The revelation that Mackay-trained and Hallinan-owned dogs were broken in by Mr Kadir further back up information obtained by an undercover investigator who attended Mr Kadir's property earlier this year.

The investigator told Four Corners Mr Kadir boasted he had broken in many of Mr Mackay and Mr Hallinan's star dogs.

"He said, 'I did all the Zipping dogs, all the Zipping dogs'. He also said he has 14 more Zipping dogs coming and the next litter of Keybow. And some of the race dogs too," she said.

Mr Mackay and Mr Hallinan told the ABC they only sent two litters of Zipping dogs to Mr Kadir's facility.

The news that more star dogs have been in the care of live baiters across at least two states should send further shockwaves through the industry and call into question the integrity of the sport and its regulators.