A racing trainer has been fined $2,000 by Racing Victoria for using the terms “retard” and “poof” in a social media post.

The post appeared on the account of the father-and-son Hulbert Racing after their horse was scratched from Saturday’s Caulfield meeting because of a traffic jam that was caused by a series of car accidents.

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The initial crash was between a Mercedes and the allegedly stolen Mazda that occurred on the Monash Freeway in Melbourne’s south-east. It was reported by the Brisbane Times that up to eight teenage boys fled from the car, one of which was arrested by police after being apprehended by a member of the public.

The female driver of the Mercedes was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. As the police responded to the crash they noticed a Nissan parked in the emergency land of the freeway, as they approached the car it sped off, eventually colliding with six cars. The driver of the car left the vehicle and ran off on foot.

The series of crashes caused an almighty traffic jam and stuck in the chaos was the team from Hulbert Racing. They’d flown their horse Lady of Five down from Queensland for the race, which they completely missed. She had been scheduled to run in the $250,000 group 3 Blue Diamond Preview.

The racing team is run by Peter Hulbert and his son Will. On their X account they commented on missing the race.

“Lady Of Five is fine guys,” they posted, ““We allowed two hours for a 50-minute trip to Caulfield and some retard crashed on the highway and stuffed everything.”

“She will have a jump out Tuesday at Pakenham and race next weekend at Caulfield in the 1000m group 3 chairman’s.” they added.

In a follow up post the team said, “They’re everywhere might go jump in a machete bin so I don’t call anyone a poof”. When a follower questioned their use of language they responded that they’d carefully chosen their words.

The use of the slurs triggered an investigation from the stewards at Racing Victoria, who issued a $2,000 fine. Will Hubert was fined for breaching racing rule AR228a – “conduct prejudicial to the image, interests, or integrity of racing”.

The racing identity has told online site Betsy that he will be appealing the charge and has engaged a criminal lawyer to represent them.

“100% plan to appeal,” Will Cullen told Betsy. “Yeah I’ve got 3 days to lodge it with Racing Vic tribunal … Corey Cullen who owns horses with me is taking care of things.”

Gay rights campaigner Gary Burns has also announce the will launch a civil action against Hulbert under the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Act.

Burns has a long history of taking on public figures who make homophobic statements in the public realm. He says he will be seeking damages of $20,000 to be donated to a HIV charity, and a public apology to be posted in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Burns is a serial litigant who has previous taken on high-profile Australians including the late radio presenter John Laws.

Hulbert Racing say they will vigorously defend any action from Burns.