Kilkenny's Shark Hanlon: 'The dream is very much alive and when it is, you stay playing it'

There are exciting times ahead for Paulstown and Goresbridge Barrow Rangers GAA Club. Siobhan Donohoe spoke to Paulstown native John ‘Shark’ Hanlon about his love of horses and his local GAA club.

Carlow trainer John 'Shark' Hanlon has guided horse Hewick to rise to a rating of 163 following his Galway Plate victory at the Galway Festival. PIC: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

John 'Shark' Hanlon lives on the Kilkenny/Carlow border. His training yard of 60 horses is in Carlow, but he will always be a proud Kilkennyman.

And proud he should be, especially for his pick of his latest star Hewick, winner of the American Grand National in Far Hills, New Jersey last month. This story resonates that of ‘rags to riches’ as Hewick bagged the winning pot, a horse that only cost his trainer €850 at Kilkenny’s Goresbridge Horse Sales.

The gamble to bring Hewick to America paid off in style when the seven-year-old secured his latest big pot winning at Far Hills. The American Grand National carries a prize pot of $250,000 (€257,000), with a top prize of $155,000 (€160,000).

Shark Hanlon and supporters with Hewick, which only cost the trainer €850 at Donohoe's Gorebridge Horse Sales

John, congratulations on your fantastic win with Hewick. You treated him to a pint of Guinness on return at your welcome party home in Bagenalstown!

Yes, we did! When we brought him home, we took him down to my local, the Royal Oak. When we were down outside the pub, we decided he might like a drop of Guinness!

It was a great night, with nearly 600 people welcoming us home. We brought him into the pub and a video of Hewick drinking his first Guinness went viral online, with over 720,000 views!

Hewick will now run in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March. Has he a chance in winning it?

He has. He has a big price; he is 40/1 and a great each way price. I’d say on the day he will be 7 or 8/1.

The dream is alive and when it is, you stay playing it.

He was famously bought at Kilkenny’s Goresbridge Horse Sales for the bargain price of €850 as a two-year-old. Five years later he went on to win the American Grand National as a seven-year-old. What a great story.

It was great to buy him just down the road in Donohoe’s Goresbridge Horse Sales. I went to the sales that day to buy another horse, but it was withdrawn so I went back home for my dinner.

Just as I was leaving the sales, I spotted this horse walking in, it caught my eye and I looked at it walking across the yard.

So, when I went home to get the dinner, I couldn’t finish eating as the horse was on my mind. Half ways through my dinner, I left the table and went back to Donohoes to buy the horse. He was a great bargain and it worked thank God.

How much is he worth now?

He is worth a lot of money, but we have also refused a lot of money for him. Let’s just say, there were a lot of noughts involved!

It is not lost on Rachael Blackmore how instrumental you were in her early career. You both came from similar backgrounds - farming, not equestrian.

Rachel started with me when she was only a young girl. She rode her first winner on his Stowaway Pearl at Thurles in February 2011. 

That’s a great story too. Her wins kept us going for the first five years and now the horses are keeping us going.

She came from no racing like me, but it all took off for her in her pony racing days.

When did you know a star was born in Rachel?

She was always a great girl; horses travel and jump well for Rachel. She is also a very nice person with it too.

Your son Paddy (15) is making headlines on the pony racing circuit.

He is having an unreal time; he won the Dingle Derby and the Scottish Championships too, which no Irish jockey has ever done before.

It’s been a great year all around, including my brother going on to win the Greyhound Derby in Shelbourne. The only downer of the past year was young Jack de Bromhead’s passing.

You dedicated your Grand National win to the late Jack De Bromhead, and your son was very close to him too.

We were all very friendly. We sold Jack his first pony and there wasn’t a day that went by that Paddy and Jack weren't on the phone to each other. He was a lovely kid, no matter where you would met him, he had a smile on his face.

When we were in America, after that mighty win for Hewick, Paddy took himself off for a little cry into the corner, thinking of his buddy Jack.  

John, you were a cattle dealer before you became a famous horse trainer. Why the career change?

My grandfather and my father and myself all dealt in cattle all our lives. We are neighbours of the Mullins’, and I went to school with the boys. I ended up getting into a leg of a horse with George Mullins and that's where it all started from.

I worked for George driving a lorry for a year and then I spent time with Tony Mullins in Gowran and that's where I met my partner, Rachel. She was riding out for Tony at the time.

When the foot and mouth came into Ireland in 2001, our business nearly shut down for a year and a half. I started doing one horse myself then two and from there it took off.

I suppose we were very lucky to have a couple of nice horses of our own when we started. We started pre training horses for point-to-points. We were renting a house down below Gowran and there were only two out houses there. We used Donal Fogarty's gallop at dinner time or in the evening.

I took out my own license to train in 2006, had my first runner in January of the following year and four months later enjoyed my first winner when the Patrick Mullins (claiming 7lbs)-ridden Shaimaa won a bumper at the Easter Festival at Cork.

Can you remember the first horse that you trained?

George and I owned The Crazy Bishop - he was as crooked as the day was long! He had no straight legs, but he was a good runner! I don't think any of the four legs were the same, but he was well able to run and won six or seven races for us.

He won the Waterford Crystal Chase in Tramore, it must have been 25 years ago (1997). I remember we went on the drink that night and the staff at the track put the Waterford glass in the boot of my car.

We didn't get home until the next morning, but I forgot about the Waterford glass. I was over at the mart the next day and I heard something rattling in the boot and then I realised it was the glass. It could have broken a million times. The money was good at that time as the race was nearly 20 grand and the glass was worth 10 grand. I was a young lad, and the Waterford glass didn't mean a lot to me then, but it means a lot to me now! When I opened the boot, it was full of Waterford glass and it all survived, somehow. We still have it to this day.

Another great horse is Skyace, again a bargain on the day that you bought her.

Last year I bought Skyace, for £600, and she gave me my first Grade 1 win when she captured the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Novice Hurdle Championship Final at Fairyhouse on Easter Sunday 2021. 

So we are after doing it twice in the last year and a half. It’s a dream and there’s a lot of luck involved with horses, but we can pick them!

Where did the nickname ‘The Shark’ come from?

The nickname 'Shark' came from a hurling game when I was 18 in Kilkenny. I was playing full forward - I wasn't very good but I was big and awkward and kept a full-back busy.

A couple of balls came in and I was lucky enough to catch them and throw them to the corner forwards to score goals and Pa Dillon shouted on the side-lines: "Would someone cut the head off that shark, and we can all go home now?!"

I remember we won that final and came back to Paulstown, and they said the man of the match was the shark. From that day on, I've been known as the shark.

You will always be a proud Paulstown man, and I know you are delighted to support the development at their new GAA grounds.

I am, because you never lose your GAA, and I am delighted to sponsor the girl’s camogie team. They will remember junior and county finals for the rest of their lives, it's all part of the game.

For a small parish like Paulstown and Goresbridge, it's great to be able to do what we are doing for the kids with the new development of the club grounds.

New Pitches

In 2019 Barrow Rangers set out an ambitious plan to develop two new playing pitches for Paulstown/Goresbridge Parish. To date they have purchased 7.5 acres and expect to complete the final surface to the new pitches in the Spring of 2023.

Last year Project Lifeline Walking and Running track was officially opened with the assistance of €75,000 grant aid from Kilkenny Leader Partnership. The Club also completed the first phase of the new access road and carpark earlier this year.

"Our latest fundraising initiative is focussed upon raising €30,000 for goal posts and netting for our fabulous new pitches," said Jim Flavin, Chairman of Barrow Rangers GAA Club. "We expect a great turnout for the Run for Rangers event this Saturday, November 26 at 11.00 am."

Don’t miss the Shark in action with a top-secret special guest at Gowran Park on Saturday, November 26 at 8pm in aid of Barrow Rangers GAA Club. Admission is free and finger food with entertainment will be provided.