Shark on weather watch ahead of Irish National Trainer Shark Hanlon is hoping for a dry spell over the coming days, as he puts the final touches to Hewick's Irish Grand National preparations. With his stable star having shown his best form on a sound surface, Hanlon is praying that the rain avoids Fairyhouse prior to the Easter Monday showpiece. He said: "Hewick is brilliant and did work on Tuesday, but I'm worried about the ground at Fairyhouse. I'd give my left arm to have a runner in the Irish National and I think he'd have a right chance with Paddy (son) claiming 5lb, but we'll make up our minds over the next few days whether to run and unfortunately there is rain coming. "I have been on the track and at present it is yielding to soft, but I need good to yielding. If we don't get it, he'll go to Aintree for the Liverpool Hurdle over three miles." Hanlon added: "We did a full wind operation on him in December and he didn't ride out until February 9th, so we only had five weeks to get him ready for Cheltenham. He wasn't back long enough and he blew up. "I'm still hoping the ground will dry out at Fairyhouse, but a lot will depend on the next couple of days." Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes.
