The trainer has appealed against the severity of his punishment.
The Referrals Committee has determined that John 'Shark' Hanlon will be banned starting on December 1.
In an effort to give his legal team more time to prepare a case and to allow him to make specific business arrangements, Hanlon has appealed the severity of the suspension and requested that the start of the ban be delayed until April 1. However, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board denied his request.
Initially, they had given him till December 1, which is still going to be the case—ten weeks from the date the punishment was announced.
Hanlon, who trains last year's Kempton hero Hewick, was found to have removed a dead horse from his yard earlier this year in a way that "caused significant prejudice to the integrity, proper conduct, and good reputation of the sport of racing."
The horse was transported in an open trailer pulled by Hanlon's trademark horsebox, and the body was left for public viewing after a tarpaulin got loose during the trip.
The incident was captured on camera by a member of the public, and after it was extensively shared on social media, it garnered more media attention. As a result, the IHRB filed charges against Hanlon, stating that his actions "attracted significant public opprobrium and adverse comment" for both the trainer and racing as a whole.
"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," stated the official justification for why Hanlon's ban will still begin in December.
"The Committee recognised that Mr. Hanlon would be burdened by these sanctions in a number of ways when it made its initial decision.
But nothing about his situation set him apart from other trainers who were placed in a similar situation by decisions made in other situations. The Committee's initial suggestion to defer to December 1, 2024, was informed by these situations.
"To sum up, delaying a sanction for five or ten months—depending on Mr. Hanlon's final decision—for more than six months would generally have the effects recommended by the IHRB and disproportionately lessen the impact of the withdrawal sentence.
"Accordingly, the Committee confirmed that the sanctions imposed in the initial decision will take effect on December 1, 2024."
If Hanlon complies with the requirements set forth by the Referrals Committee during the first half of the ban, suspension could be postponed for five months.
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