A trial date has been set in the case of Xavier McGrapth, 24, of Versailles, Ky., in an animal cruelty case stemming from a boarding operation he ran. McGrapth faces second degree animal cruelty charges after he was arrested on April 13 of this year. Bourbon District Court Judge Mary Jane Phelps set a pre-trial hearing date for Jan. 26, 2022 with a jury trial scheduled to follow Feb. 24, 2022.
Earlier this year, about two dozen horses were found at a property McGrapth was leasing off Brentsville Road in various states of neglect. Those horses were largely owned by people who lived out of state and had sent horses to McGrapth for breaking and training or foaling/breeding back. Most owners discovered McGrapth's operation through his Facebook posts as McGrapth Breaking and Training and/or Whispering Creek Thoroughbreds.
A criminal complaint was filed earlier this year alleging 13 counts of second-degree animal cruelty, which is a Class A misdemeanor in Kentucky.
The horses were discovered after one locally-based owner dropped by the property McGrapth leased to check on her pregnant mare and discovered two dead horses in a field near the barn. Additional investigation revealed several other horses in poor body condition. In the days and weeks that followed that discovery, owners and local and state investigators struggled to identify and relocate all the horses entrusted to McGrapth's care. Several told the Paulick Report their horses' racing prospects were seriously damaged as a result of neglect suffered in his care.
McGrapth has entered a plea of not guilty in the case.
Read our previous reporting on this case here.
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