Hanlon suspension set to begin at start of December

John ‘Shark’ Hanlon’s ban will begin on December 1, it has been decided by the Referrals Committee.

Hanlon has appealed against the severity of the suspension and applied to have the start of the ban deferred until April 1 to give his legal team time to prepare a case and to enable him to make specific arrangements regarding his business, but this was turned down by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board.

They had initially given him until December 1, which is 10 weeks from the announcement of the punishment, and that will remain the case.

Hanlon, who handles last year’s Kempton hero Hewick, was found to have acted in a manner that “caused significant prejudice to the integrity, proper conduct and good reputation of the sport of racing” in the removal of a dead horse from his yard earlier this year.

The horse was carried on an open trailer which was towed by Hanlon’s branded horsebox, with the body left on display to the public after a tarpaulin became displaced during the journey.

A member of the public videoed the incident and it was widely circulated on social media, which attracted further media attention and led to the IHRB bringing charges against Hanlon, saying the conduct “attracted significant public opprobrium and adverse comment” both for the trainer personally and racing in general.

The written reasons outlining why Hanlon’s ban would still start in December said: “The Committee decided that it saw nothing in the material submitted to justify deviation from the initial suggestion that the effective date of the sanctions should be December 1, 2024.

“The Committee acknowledged in the initial decision that these sanctions would be burdensome for Mr Hanlon in various ways.

“However, there was nothing in his circumstances to differentiate them from those of other trainers put in the same position by similar decisions in other cases. These cases informed the initial proposal by the Committee of a deferral to December 1, 2024.

“In summary, to defer a sanction of five or 10-months duration (depending on the ultimate approach taken by Mr Hanlon) for well over six months would tend to have the effects suggested by the IHRB and would disproportionately dilute the effect of the withdrawal sanction.

“Accordingly, the Committee confirmed that the sanctions imposed in the initial decision will take effect on December 1, 2024.”

Five months of the suspension may be deferred if Hanlon abides by the conditions imposed by the Referrals Committee during the first half of the ban.