I’M not sure you will ever see the Shark and Shakespeare mentioned in the same sentence but in the fallout and comments from the trainer’s ban, there were various viewpoints expressed online, some pro the sanction at the time, and many more criticising its severity. It brought a vague thought of a line from Macbeth.

To read some comments, the Shark might have taken advice from the Bard and Lady Macbeth’s instructions to her husband: “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it.”

As it often occurs, those in the racing industry rallied round and called it a great injustice. What crime or rule breach did he commit? Dead animal disposal is a weekly occurrence, particularly in rural communities.

In the detail of the initial IRHB hearing it was noted that “his conduct was not deliberate or intentional” and he had no previous rule breaches.

The conditions imposed of having to withdraw from any training activity for five months seemed harsh.

Did the IHRB, at a time just after Tony Martin had given the two fingers to their suspension and a damaging RTE investigation had highlighted upsetting coverage of former racehorses being sent for slaughter - Hanlon’s yard mentioned as one who had sent horses there - impinge on this case? Another image appeared online around the time of a former Hanlon-trained horse who had been sold to “a dealer” appearing in an emaciated condition in Britain.

Social media should not define how we form opinions on people or events or represent an industry but it does.

And no one should know better of its uses than the Hanlon stable, who have used it to their advantage to create a huge following for Hewick.

“Mr Hanlon was undoubtedly as aware as anyone of the heightened public sensitivity to equine welfare issues” the hearing noted, and that “he had ample time to consider and prepare for the securing of the carcass in that trailer”, the appeal committee noted.

There is little room for dispute here or that the trainer was negligent in his responsibilities as a licensed practitioner, bearing in mind the increased scrutiny on the use of animals in sport.

The committee stated that Hanlon’s “obfuscation and inconsistency in the accounts given to investigating officials in the immediate aftermath” were also factors aggravating culpability, with little further detail on this. Perhaps not the ‘innocent flower’ here.

The summary was that the incident “caused significant prejudice to the integrity, proper conduct and good reputation of the sport of horse-racing.” The ‘offence’ happened in the same week that the RTE Investigates programme was making headlines. Yet the committee did accept the explanation that the dead horse had been initially covered.

The question of course was while rules are the rules, did the punishments fit the crime? In the same vein as the whip bans, the suspensions are severe.

The outcome of the appeal may well see a reduction. How well that sits outside the sport remains to be seen.

THIS week I was decidedly annoyed to be caught unawares by a speed van, most likely triggering a fine and penalty points. I rarely exceed limits but the rules are the rules and I was an annoying 10km over the limit. Sin é. No point arguing that I was not a danger on a clear road.

In that vein, I’m not sure that the recent appeals for leniency from some quarters on Jamie Powell’s rule break, the four strikes over the whip limit in the Cesarewitch, or Shark Hanlon’s plea because “it’s my livelihood”, and sale of stock, should be given extra consideration when issuing sanctions.

Yes, the rider may have been having a tough season but that is no reason not to apply the rules, even if we agree the rules are too severe and could be more likely to catch out riders coming from Ireland to Britain. But the number is there and they have to be observed.

Yes, it was tough and deserves sympathy but instigating petitions as in the Shark Hanlon ban/appeal are hardly the proper way to go about questioning official bans.

It can’t be a mitigating factor, for all that a 28-day riding ban for something that has no evidence of harming a horse, is far too much.

“THIS isn’t about sport betting so much as casinos - the online slots machines have a higher rate of addiction according a British Health survey than cocaine, and around the same as heroin.

“This is about protecting young people. When an 18-year-old opens an account to back Leinster Rugby or Manchester United or something like that, within 24 hours he or she is peppered with offers of a free spin. They are being groomed into free spins on the online casinos from the not so addictive part of the gambling sites into the most addictive part.”

So said Stuart Kenny, formerly of Paddy Power, speaking after the Gambling Bill was passed into law this week.

But do we really think not having gambling adverts on a subscription TV racing channel in the afternoons is going to change this?