Shark Hanlon is suspended for ten months.
Case relates to the transporting of a dead racehorse from his yard.
Trainer John "Shark" Hanlon was handed a 10-month suspension after appearing before the disciplinary panel of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board.
Hanlon, who trains Hewick, the King George VI Chase hero from last year, was found to have removed a dead horse from his yard earlier this year in a way that 'made serious harm to the integrity, right conduct and good repute 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 seeing 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.
After a hearing on August 30, the disciplinary panel found that Hanlon had violated rule 272(i) because he had "high culpability" and had been "grossly negligent in the supervision of the transport of the horse carcass on the day in question."
They claimed insufficient steps had been made to secure the tarpaulin prior to the trip, and they believed Hanlon's "gross negligence" should have resulted in the suspension of his licence for ten months and a punishment of two thousand euros.
However, they left the door open to later halving his sentence after Hanlon made confessions "regarding his conduct and the consequences thereof" on the morning of the hearing and an impromptu examination of his yard revealed no welfare issues or pertinent past rule violations.
The decision said as follows: "The Committee is willing to study a future request to provisionally halt the final five months of the 10-month withdrawal sanction. This Committee's prior methodology is in line with the potential for a partial suspension of such a sentence to account for mitigating circumstances."
