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Fennis Court Bagnelstown Co Carlow
John Joseph Hanlon, or Shark as he is more commonly known, is based in Bagenalstown, County Carlow, which is not too far from Willie Mullins. Shark has never had the ammunition that some of the big guns have possessed but still has a respectable CV.
He took out his licence in 2006 and trained his first winner at Cork the following year, with Patrick Mullins on board. Initially involved in the cattle-trading business, he got involved in racing with Willie, Tony and George Mullins before taking his licence out.
Hanlon has a knack for finding horses at low prices and getting them to win big prizes and Hewick and Skyace are excellent examples of this. The latter cost a mere £600 and went on to earn the trainer his first Grade 1 success.
Hanlon has had 308 winners in Britain and Ireland at the time of writing and the vast majority of those have come over jumps in Ireland. He has had 248 jumps winners in his native Ireland and 38 on British shores, the most notable of which was the 2023 King George.
He also has 22 winners on the Flat in Ireland but is yet to have a Flat winner in Britain, albeit from a relatively small pool of runners. The 2020-2021 campaign was his most prolific in the last five seasons and he achieved a total of 23 winners.
Shark's teenage son Paddy has started his career as an amateur jockey and has recently turned professional, currently claiming 7lb. Paddy has 21 winners to his name in Britain and Ireland thus far. Potentially a name to look out for in the future!
The nickname Shark came from a hurling game when he was 18. Hanlon scored a couple of goals before the opposing coach shouted "Would someone cut the head off that Shark and we can all go home now?!" Obviously the name stuck because it remains to this day.
Not many Britain or Ireland-based trainers can boast to have won the American Grand National but Hanlon added that to his CV in 2022 when Hewick won, joining Gordon Elliott and Nicky Henderson on the list of winners.
Stable star Hewick will probably be Hanlon?s greatest horse for a long time and potentially ever. It'll take a good one to surpass his achievements, especially when you consider his €850 price tag. The 10-year-old has earned a whopping £774,403 in prize money.
He came to prominence with an impressive eight-length win in the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown and went on to follow up in the Galway Plate and the American Grand National.
His 2023 King George VI Chase win was undoubtedly the highlight of his career.
Luska Lad provided Shark with his first Graded success when winning the Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle at Punchestown in 2010. The trainer didn't have long to wait for his next one, as the same horse went on to win the Grade 2 Red Mills Trial Hurdle soon after.
