SHREWD SHARK EYES STRIKE WITH HEWICK

Ben Cox believes John Hanlon's bargain buy is fit and ready to join the Cheltenham Gold rush

JOHN ‘Shark’ Hanlon has admitted he would “travel the world” to find a superstar racehorse like his Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup contender Hewick and still cannot believe he found him in a local sale “five minutes down the road”.

Hanlon describes the nine-yearold, who cost his owner TJ McDonald just 850 Euros (around £800) but has already won more than £600,000 in prize money, as “tough as nails”.

And as he and his team plot a second bid for Gold Cup success after his fall in last year’s race two fences from home, the trainer says his whole team get a buzz from having such a top-class chaser in their yard.

Co Carlow-based Hanlon only bought Hewick at a sale in nearby Goresbridge after the horse he had intended to buy was not there.

Since then he has won the American Grand National, the Grade 2 Bet365 Oaksey Chase at Sandown and the Grade1 King George VI Chase at Kempton.

Speaking at a Jockey Club media event, Hanlon said: “He has a great temperament – you can do what you like with him and travelling doesn’t bother him. We probably won’t go to Cheltenham until Wednesday.