SHARK Hanlon is putting 28 of his horses on the market at Doncaster next Tuesday as he awaits the result of his appeal against the severity of his 10-month suspension. A decision is expected by the end of next week.

Hanlon received his ban last month after a disciplinary panel held that he had been responsible for the inappropriate transportation of an equine carcass last June, a course of action that was determined to have damaged the reputation and public image of racing.

The original proceedings arose from a video that emerged on social media of Hanlon’s branded horse lorry pulling a trailer with a dead horse on it.

Hanlon, best known as the trainer of Hewick, the King George VI Chase, American Grand National and Galway Plate winner, argued that he was being punished for making a mistake.

He insisted that he had placed a tarpaulin over the dead horse but that it had blown away in transit and this was accepted in evidence in the original referral.

Satisfaction

Speaking outside the offices of the IHRB on Monday, where his appeal was heard by a body headed by independent chairman Justice Peter Kelly, Hanlon expressed satisfaction with how events had unfolded but confirmed that 28 horses would be sold in Doncaster.

“After today, you’d be very hopeful,” said Hanlon, accompanied by his partner Rachel O’Neill and solicitor, John Whelan. “I think we got a very, very fair hearing. We’re just going to have to wait for the outcome but I’m very happy with the hearing we got. That’s most important. They listened to everything we said. So we’re just hoping the decision goes our way now,” Hanlon said.

“The horses are going to England tomorrow. Today was the day we had to decide. There’s 28 horses going to Doncaster for October 22nd. The owners are standing behind me and whatever we sell, please God, they’ll put back in the money again.”

”Tough time”

“It’s after being a long six weeks and I’ve two more weeks to put with it. We’re after having a tough time between my father dying, my sister falling down the stairs and having two bleeds on the brain – thankfully she’s better in the last couple of days – and all this.”

Justice Peter Kelly, a former president of the High Court, was joined on the appeals body by Nick Wachman and Anthony Byrne, who are raceday stewards and members of the IHRB disciplinary panel.

In a surprise move, trainer Edward O’Grady gave evidence at the appeal hearing. O’Grady described the suspension as “draconian”, as Hanlon was “an agricultural man going about agricultural business.” He described some of the practicalities around dealing with fatalities when dealing with livestock.

Hanlon’s solicitor Stephen Lanigan O’Keeffe argued that Hanlon had not broken any law or rule of racing, and argued that there was a contradiction between how his client was treated and what was accepted practice at racecourses when there are equine fatalities. He also contended that comparisons made in the original referral between this case and two previous high profile ones involving Rob James and Gordon Elliott, who were suspended after a video and photo respectively had emerged of the jockey/handler and well-known trainer had emerged of them sitting on dead horses, were not appropriate because Hanlon had made a mistake rather than purposely done something that was deemed prejudicial to the image of horse racing.

“Is he being punished for an offence or for publicity?” Lanigan O’Keeffe asked.

”Irrelevant”

IHRB’s head of racing regulation and integrity, Christine Traynor rebutted these points, arguing that James and Elliott had committed “in the moment” transgressions and exhibited more regret than Hanlon in this instance.

She contended that much of what Hanlon’s representatives were putting forward was “irrelevant”.

The panel broke for an hour and reconvened at 2pm, when Justice Kelly announced that they would reserve their decision and announce it within the next 14 days.

“We want to give full consideration to all that we heard from both sides and to the evidence,” Justice Kelly then concluded.

While the majority of Hanlon’s horses will be sold, no decision has been made on who will train his flagbearer, Hewick, should Hanlon’s ban be upheld.

The horse finished a respectable third in the Grade 3 BetVictor Chase at Punchestown on Wednesday.