Shark Hanlon is taking on the big fish with horse of a lifetime Hewick confident he can make a big splash in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup if he gets his optimum ground conditions.
Hewick, who famously cost his trainer £800, has become a cult horse, taking Hanlon, a big character but relative minnow in Irish racing, to places he would never have dreamt.
Since travelling to Sedgefield to win the Durham National in October 2021, the eight-year-old has landed the Bet365 Gold Cup, Galway Plate and the American Grand National, for which he won an Eclipse Award as 2022’s outstanding chaser in the US.
“To think we have a horse that cost £800 going for a Gold Cup is unreal,” said Hanlon, 57 who trains at Bagenalstown in Co Carlow..
“He has had to do everything right in the last 12 months and even won in America which is amazing and got the award a couple of months after.
“You would never dream of these things happening to a small trainer and when it does it is really appreciated.”
Hewick has so far earned nearly £400,000 for his owner, Naas farmer T J McDonald, and brought Hanlon, christened John but universally known as Shark, a nickname that has stuck since he played hurling in his younger days, a new lease of life.
“He’s put my yard on the map and he’s given my father Willie and mother Brenda, who are in their eighties, a big lift.
“When we bought him we had gone to the sales to buy another horse which wasn’t there. We spotted this one going in and we thought he was a right good walker - and he was cheap!
"We never dreamt that day he would end up in a Gold Cup.”
Hewick hasn’t run since he returned from the US but that has been a deliberate plan.
“We were busy enough with him last year so I gave him a break and decided to go straight there,” he added. “His fitness is 100%.
“I think he has a real chance if we get good ground and he will probably go for the Grand National after that.”
