Hanlon poised for epic celebration should Hewick realise Cheltenham dream

Shark alert at the Festival, as Gold Cup hope seeks fairytale success.

Bars across Cheltenham should brace themselves for a Shark attack of Jaws-like proportions if Hewick can complete his fairytale rise by claiming Gold Cup glory.

In an era when National Hunt horses are readily selling for half a million and more, the Hewick story is one that gives hope those rags-to-riches tales can still come true.

You will do well to find a more ebullient trainer than John ‘Shark’ Hanlon, who gained his nickname from a hurling game when he was still a teenager.

A towering figure in stature with ginger locks, Hanlon looks like a man who could guzzle a gallon of Guinness without batting an eyelid – and would be quite happy to show you given the opportunity.

Shark Hanlon at Galway
Shark Hanlon at Galway (Niall Carson/PA)

“I wouldn’t have been the best son in the world in fairness,” he admitted after welcoming a gaggle of the British racing media to his yard on a beautiful February morning in County Carlow.

“My mother always said to me ‘there’s one thing I can’t work out about you John, you leave here at 7.45pm on a Friday to go to 8pm mass in Kilkenny’ and I said ‘yep, and I’m often there before the priest is!’.

“Then she said ‘but you can get to Kilkenny in 15 minutes and it takes you two or three days to come home!’. So you can imagine what kind of son I was when I was 18 or 20.”

Hanlon opened his doors to the press pack on the same morning those in attendance had been to see the astonishing firepower his more illustrious neighbour Willie Mullins has at his disposal for the Festival.

It took no more than 15 minutes to travel by coach from Closutton to Fennis Court yet they are a world apart, with former cattle dealer Hanlon’s string adding up to to around a quarter of the 200-plus Mullins army.

While the most successful trainer in Cheltenham Festival history is regularly able to spend the big bucks thanks to multiple wealthy owners, Hanlon has had no option to dip his hand in the bargain bucket from time to time – but in Hewick he has unearthed a diamond in the rough.

“The story is brilliant as he came from five minutes down the road at Goresbridge and at EURO 850 he was some value,” said the trainer.

“I actually went to look at another horse but he wasn’t there, so we came out of the bottom gate to come home and met him (Hewick) walking in. I came home and was thinking about the horse, so I went back and and bought him.”

If things had worked out differently Hewick could well have been moved on four years ago, with Hanlon’s business model built around preparing unraced horses for point-to-points before selling for a profit.

Hewick on the gallops at Shark Hanlon's yard
Hewick on the gallops at Shark Hanlon’s yard (Lorraine O’Sullivan/PA)

But in a twist of fate, his current stable star failed to complete in three outings in the pointing field and as a result ended up staying put to run under Rules.

Hanlon said: “If he’d won his point-to-point he would have been sold then as all my point-to-pointers get sold, but everything went wrong for him.

“In his first point-to-point a horse fell in front of him and brought him down, the second day it was good ground and then lashed rain and he slipped and skidded along the ground, and then the third day Shane Fenelon fell off him at the first.

“After that we said we’d give him a bit of time and run him in a few hurdle races. It took him a bit of time, but he won one night in Kilbeggan and from that day to this he’s after being a real horse.”

Hewick’s rise, particularly in the last season and a half, has been nothing short of astonishing.

Since a relatively low-key win in the Durham National at Sedgefield less than 18 months ago, the eight-year-old has plundered the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown and the Galway Plate, while he may well have added the Kerry National at Listowel to his big-race haul but for tipping up at the final fence.

But it is his most recent triumph that made the most headlines as an ambitious trans-Atlantic trip to New York paid off spectacularly as Hewick ran out a brilliant winner of the American Grand National.

It was a trip Hanlon will not forget in a hurry, while Hewick’s subsequent visit to the trainer’s local pub made national and even international news.

He said: “It was amazing and we let them all know that we were there, that’s for sure!

Hewick is washed down after exercise
Hewick is washed down after exercise (Lorraine O’Sullivan/PA)

“They give you the trophy out on the track and the whole thing had to be delayed 40 minutes as they couldn’t us off the track.

“Gordon Elliott was there and had a car hired and I had a car hired. Gordon went off and filled his car with drink, I went off filled mine with food and then we all joined together.

“It’s a great story and something you dream of. We didn’t leave the track that early and did a bit of celebrating – I’d say they mightn’t let the Irish in again!”

Hanlon has since returned to the States after his charge was nominated for and ultimately won the prestigious Steeplechase Horse of the Year title at the Eclipse Awards, reducing the trainer to tears at a glittering ceremony in Florida.

“It was mighty and to go back and win an Eclipse Award, I never dreamt we’d get that. They sent me an email to say he was in the last three and told me where it was, but they gave me no inkling that he’d won. When they called it I couldn’t believe it,” he said.

“I was quite emotional as a lot of things hit my head. Obviously Jack de Bromhead died last year and I thought of my own two sons and Jack after it – I had a lump in my throat.

“I’ll never win an Eclipse Award again and it would have been nice to have my two sons there with me. Jack was a great kid and my chaps here were very fond of him.

“I got emotional thinking about things, that’s all.”

With Hewick having enjoyed a well-earned break since his American adventure, the Hanlon bandwagon will roll into the Cotswolds ready to take part in Cheltenham’s most prestigious race.

Connections could likely have recouped his purchase price 100 times over if they had wished, but Hanlon is fully aware he may never be in this position again and is keen to make the most of it.

He said: “We’ve had some big offers – more than any horse is worth. I own part of him myself and I would have loved to sell him, but I’d only sell him to stay in the yard and the other chap didn’t want to sell at all, which made it easier for me.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be going for the Gold Cup, but when will we ever have a horse to run in a Gold Cup again? That’s the way I’m looking at it. The owners wants to run in a Gold Cup, so why not bring him – isn’t he entitled to be there?

“I think Cheltenham will suit us as it’s a good, tough track and I think you want a horse to stay three and a half miles to win a Gold Cup and he’s already won over three and a half in Sandown.

“I’d be delighted to finish in the first four, but you always dream about winning it and if you’re not in, you can’t win. It’d be a great story to win it with an EURO 850 horse, wouldn’t it?

“He’s earned us some money and as well as that he’s given us some sport and some fun.”

Hewick rolls in mud at Shark Hanlon's yard
Hewick rolls in mud at Shark Hanlon’s yard (Lorraine O’Sullivan/PA)

The Gold Cup is only one half a dream double on Hanlon’s mind, with a tilt at the Grand National at Aintree next on his agenda.

If Hewick wins one or both of National Hunt racing’s biggest prizes, one thing is for certain – there will be a party to end all parties somewhere in Britain or Ireland.

“If we win a Gold Cup, and then go back and win an English National, I’d say it could take a week or a fortnight to go home,” said Hanlon.

“He went into a pub the last time, so I don’t know where we’ll bring him the next time!”

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