SHARK Hanlon believes he has been very harshly treated by the Referrals Committee who this week gave him a 10-month suspension for “gross negligence” in the way he transported a dead racehorse through Co Kilkenny on an afternoon in June.
Hanlon says he will appeal the severity of the sanction.
Speaking on The Nick Luck Podcast yesterday, Hanlon said: “I am very disappointed with what was handed down [by the Referrals Committee]. It’s way too severe for what I have done.”
Recalling the events of Friday, June 14th, Hanlon said: “I got a phone call from a neighbour telling me one of our horses who had been grazing in a field 15 miles away from the yard was lying down. My partner Rachel and son Paddy were in the area and went to investigate. They called me to say the horse had died.
“I had to get the animal out of there and taken to a licensed knackery. It would be wrong to leave the horse there where it could be picked at by birds or foxes.
“I arranged for a man to help load the horse at around 4.30pm and there wasn’t much time before the knackery closed. My jeep was being repaired so I used my horsebox to tow a trailer to the field. We loaded the horse and I covered it with a tarpaulin.
“I drove straight to the knackery and when I arrived I noticed the tarpaulin had come off. I didn’t know where I lost it as you don’t have a view of the trailer from the side mirrors of the horsebox.”
Another motorist travelling behind Hanlon’s horsebox recorded a video of the dead racehorse lying uncovered on the trailer in traffic in Paulstown. This was posted on social media and led to adverse commentary on the integrity of Irish racing.
When the incident was picked up by a national newspaper, Hanlon issued an apology over any distress caused.
Meanwhile, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board launched an investigation into the matter and the case was heard a week ago.
On Thursday the Referrals Committee chairman Justice Tony Hunt issued the Committee’s verdict which found Hanlon guilty of damaging the “good reputation of horseracing”. The Committee took the view that “the importance of proper respect for the carcass of the deceased animal ought to have been well-known to all trainers, including Hanlon, following recent high-profile public controversies concerning the shortcomings of trainers and riders in other cases, and the outcome of referrals to this Committee in that regard.”
They also note that the incident took place in the same week in which RTÉ transmitted a “Prime Time Investigates” programme relating to serious equine welfare issues. “Mr Hanlon was undoubtedly as aware as anyone of the heightened public sensitivity to equine welfare issues arising from the RTÉ broadcast, and this awareness ought to have informed his actions on that day.”
Handing Hanlon a 10-month training ban, the Committee said that “others previously penalised in this manner in broadly similar circumstances would be justifiably aggrieved if a different approach was adopted in this case.”
The trainer reacted: “I don’t think I did enough wrong for the penalty I got. I agree it shouldn’t have happened but I try to do the right thing.
“I have between 50 and 70 horses in training. I have 12-14 staff and they are asking me if their jobs are safe. The truth is, I don’t know.”
Messages of support
Hanlon added that he has been overwhelmed by messages of support from owners, friends and racing fans. “I am really amazed at the support I am getting, especially from English people and from Dubai and America. I can’t thank them enough.”
In their judgement, the Referrals Committee indicated that it would be “disposed to consider a future application to conditionally suspend the last five months of the 10 month withdrawal sanction” if they are satisfied that Hanlon fully removed himself from all training-related activities for the first five months of the suspension.
Based in Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, Hanlon has been training under a full licence since 2007. He has forged a reputation for winning good races with inexpensive or homebred horses, such as Luska Lad and Hidden Cyclone.
In 2019 he bought Skyace out of the Willie Mullins yard for £600. The mare went on to win five races for Hanlon, including the Grade 1 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares’ Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse during the 2021 Easter Festival.
His current stable star is Hewick, bought for €850 as a store. Now a nine-year-old, Hewick has won 10 races and almost €1 million in prize money. His big race wins include the King George VI Chase at Kempton, the Oaksey Chase at Sandown, the American Grand National at Far Hills, the Galway Plate and the Sandown Gold Cup.