Shark Hanlon reveals licensing plan as ban begins plus surprise Christmas option for Hewick

Hewick will run for Tara Lee Cogan at Christmas in the King George VI Chase, the Savills Chase or the Leopardstown Christmas Hurdle, after Hanlon Shark chose it to take over the license of its shipyard in Bagenalstown, County Carlow.

Hanlon’s six-month suspension, which he can request to be suspended for the final three months if he meets certain conditions, will come into effect on Sunday and he will not be allowed to have riders in his name until March 1 at the earliest .

The King George Award-winning trainer was initially suspended for ten months for acting in a manner which “caused significant harm to the integrity, good conduct and good reputation of the sport of racing” after transported a dead horse in an open trailer attached to one of his trademark trucks, with the carcass fully visible to the public.

This suspension was reduced to six months after an appeal and Cogan will now resume management of his site.

Hanlon told the Racing Post: “Tara is going to take over. She’s a lifelong friend of ours and she’s the best in the world. You couldn’t meet a nicer person. She’s going to move into my backyard and train them to get out of here.” Rachel (O’Neill, Shark’s partner) will be there to give him a boost. We don’t have many horses racing at the moment, maybe eight or ten, so it’s not going to be very busy. “

Hanlon will spend time away from racing and plans to take his mother to visit his sick sister in the United States. “I’m going to take mom to see my sister in America,” he said. “She had the most horrible fall and she’s not doing well at all. My mother is 84 and I asked her if she wanted me to take her and she said she would love to go, so it was. what am I going to do? We are going there for a few weeks at the beginning of January.

Hanlon said his son Paddy would play a big part in Hewick’s Christmas preparations when a return to hurdles was a possibility in the three-mile Leopardstown Christmas Hurdle on December 28. Hewick is the reigning King George champion, but Hanlon said he is not a certain starter. in Kempton’s Boxing Day showpiece.

“I would love to try the King George again, but we’ll have to see what the weather does,” Hanlon said. “There is also the option of the Savills Chase at Leopardstown, but the only race I have in mind for him is the Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown. That’s where I wouldn’t mind running him.

“If the ground gets soft, I’d say he could go over hurdles. It’s not that he hates really soft ground, but jumping fences is more of an effort for him on that ground, so the Christmas Hurdle could to be a better option I would be afraid for my life that something could happen to him during a deep chase.

He added: “Nothing will change with Hewick. Paddy rides him every day and does all the work on him and that won’t change. He knows him inside out and does a fantastic job with him, and I’m sure Rachel and Tara will also do a great job.

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Hewick could go straight to Gold Cup after Shark Hanlon ends Betfair Chase bid on soft ground

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