‘Shark’ Hanlon ban reminds trainers of their duties in the age of social media | Horse Racing

TKing George-winning trainer “Shark” Hanlon kept it unusually short last week after learning he had been banned for 10 months by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board for transporting a dead horse across a public road and through a village near his stables in an open trailer. “There will be an immediate appeal, that’s one thing,” Hanlon said, “and I can’t say too much about it at this stage as my legal team have advised me not to say too much. But we are very surprised and very disappointed with the outcome of the hearing.”

Hanlon’s disappointment is, from some quarters at least, understandable. A quick inspection of his yard by IHRB investigators after the incident in June found that “all welfare and other matters were in order”, and while his obvious failure to secure a tarpaulin over the dead horse was compounded by the decision to subsequently attach the trailer to his instantly recognisable horse box, he did not deliberately sit on the dead horse to pose for a photograph. Gordon Elliott, who infamously did so, was given a one-year ban, with the final six months suspended, only slightly more than Hanlon’s (pre-appeal) 10-month sentence with the chance to apply for a suspension of the final five months after serving four months.

Hanlon has also generated a great deal of positive publicity for racing in recent years, the most memorable example being Hewick’s fast and late finish in last season’s King George at Kempton. The trainer led the celebrations in his usual style, reminding the Boxing Day crowd that “we’re not here yet, so we’re going to have a good time”.

Jumps racing has become more of a business than a sport over the past 25 years, but Hanlon’s unbridled joy at his success with a horse bought for buttons was reminiscent of a time when the best horses weren’t all concentrated in four or five yards. He seemed to be in it for the craic as much as the money, and that was as clear to potential new fans of the sport watching the first episode of Champions: Full Gallop on ITV as it was to the crowd that gathered around the winner’s fence when Hewick made his triumphant return.

Whether Hanlon should really be that surprised by last week’s finding, however, is more debatable. Social media, for better or worse, has been around for about 15 years, and how something looks in an image or a 10-second clip on Twitter/X or TikTok is now of the utmost importance.

The IHRB and the British Horseracing Authority can invest all their time, money and energy in spreading and amplifying the message that horse welfare is an overarching priority, but the image of a dead horse in an open trailer behind a “#TeamHewick” horse box will inevitably be more deeply and permanently etched in the minds of many who see it.

In that respect, Hanlon’s sloppy failure to secure the tarpaulin to his trailer is even harder to excuse, given that it came just 48 hours after a high-profile RTÉ investigation into welfare standards in the Irish horse industry as a whole. If ever there was a time for trainers to be extra aware of their responsibilities to the sport and its public image, this was it.

The punishment Hanlon received may seem quite severe, but in a case like this, where the image of the sport is significant but unquantifiable, the aim is to make others aware of their responsibilities, in addition to punishing rule violations.

Hanlon isn’t the first person in racing to discover that in the age of social media, appearance matters, and that an apology for offense will never fully repair the damage. And he probably won’t be the last. But if his suspension means even one of his fellow coaches will think twice before doing something he’ll regret, then at least it will have served some of its purpose.