Irish coach John ‘Shark’ Hanlon has had his 10-month suspension for transporting a useless horse in public view in an open trailer reduce to 6 months, with the opportunity of it being additional decreased to a few months.
The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s disciplinary panel imposed the penalties in September on final yr’s King George VI Chase successful coach after discovering he had “prompted vital prejudice to the integrity, correct conduct and good status of the game of racing”.
The useless horse was carried on a trailer towed by Hanlon’s branded horsebox, with the physique left on show to the general public after a tarpaulin turned displaced through the journey.
A member of the general public videoed the incident and it was extensively circulated on social media.
Hanlon appealed the severity of the sanction, on account of start on 1 December, having been unsuccessful in making an attempt to delay the start of the sanction to provide him time to arrange a authorized case and make particular enterprise preparations.
The coach claimed the size of the ban didn’t keep in mind earlier circumstances when 12-month suspensions have been handed out to coach Gordon Elliott and jockey Rob James over disrespect to deceased horses.
“Of their circumstances, the dearth of respect demonstrated to the carcass of the deceased animal in every case was deliberate and wilful. Mr Hanlon’s was not,” dominated the appeals panel.
“He was negligent albeit to a excessive diploma. We don’t suppose that the discount of the headline penalty from one in every of 12 months withdrawal of licence to 10 months adequately addresses that main distinction.
“It additionally must be borne in thoughts that the negligence of Mr Hanlon occurred in a single exercise of comparatively quick length.”
Hanlon’s licence to coach shall be withdrawn for a interval of six months from 1 December and the referrals committee could contemplate an software to conditionally droop the final three months of the six-month withdrawal sanction.