John ‘Shark’ Hanlon, the trainer of last year’s G1 King George VI Chase winner Hewick (Ire) (Virtual {GB}), has had his licence withdrawn for a period of 10 months and received a fine of €2,000 for “acting in a manner prejudicial to the integrity, proper conduct, or good reputation of the sport”, it was announced by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) on Thursday.
The IHRB is said to have initiated an investigation on Sunday, June 16 after images appeared on social media which showed the carcass of a deceased horse being transported on an open trailer drawn by a horsebox belonging to Hanlon.
“Although there had been some attempts by Mr Hanlon to conceal the carcass from public view by covering it with a tarpaulin prior to departure from the paddock, these had failed completely by the time the box and trailer combination reached Paulstown, County Kilkenny at around 5pm, such that the carcass was completely uncovered and fully visible to members of the public,” said the IHRB in a press release following a meeting of its Referrals Committee on Friday, August 30.
“Having considered the evidence and the admissions by Mr Hanlon, the Committee was satisfied that the IHRB had established that Mr Hanlon was in breach of Rule 272(i), by reason of the fact that he transported a deceased animal through Paulstown in a completely uncovered state, using a highly identifiable horsebox, which caused significant prejudice to the integrity, proper conduct and good reputation of the sport of horse-racing.
“The Committee was satisfied that the prejudice caused by the conduct of Mr Hanlon was compounded by the wide dissemination on various social media platforms of the recording of these events, and the ensuing adverse reaction and commentary.”
Of the punishment handed out to Hanlon, the ruling read, “Having duly considered these matters, the Committee concluded that Mr Hanlon was grossly negligent in the supervision of the transport of the horse carcass on the day in question, and that the breach of Rule 272(i) therefore involved high culpability on his part.
“In relation to the breach of Rule 272(i), the Committee identified a headline sanction of 10 months withdrawal of Mr Hanlon’s licence to train, together with a fine of €2,000. The fine was levied at a significantly lower level than that advocated by the IHRB, in anticipation of the financial and other consequences for Mr Hanlon of the primary sanction of withdrawal of his licence.”
However, following admissions from Hanlon on the morning of the hearing “regarding his conduct and the consequences thereof”, plus an unannounced inspection of his yard that showed no welfare issues and no relevant previous rule breaches, the Committee left the door open to later halving his suspension.
The ruling stated, “The Committee is disposed to consider a future application to conditionally suspend the last five months of the 10 month withdrawal sanction. The possible partial suspension of such a sanction to reflect mitigating factors is consistent with the previous approach of this Committee.”
Hanlon said he was “very disappointed” and intends to appeal against his suspension.
“There is going to be an appeal put in straight away, that is one thing, and I can’t say too much at this stage as my legal team have advised me not to say too much,” said the County Carlow trainer.
“But we are very surprised and very disappointed with the results of the hearing.”
