SHREWD SHARK EYES STRIKE WITH HEWICK

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

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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.