Equinties - Shark attack

Gm Equinauts

Our view on the Hanlon story (and it’s not contrarian).

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

NOT OUT THE WOODS

There seems to be somewhat of a positive update on the condition of Lauren Keen-Hawkins who was omitted to intensive care after a horrific fall at Worcester on Sunday.

The rider is now out of intensive care and although she is yet to gain full consciousness, it’s quite likely she has been kept in an induced coma to be able to recover properly.

According to her boss, Kim Bailey, she can “obviously hear and is saying the odd word” - a doctors relief that her brain is operating well in an unconscious state. This is huge and a positive step forward for her.

All of us behind Equinties are thinking of her and wishing her a speedy and full recovery.

SHARK HANLON

Well, do we start with this.

First off, that big, loud ginger bloke who bought HEWICK for £800, Shark Hanlon, has been banned from training race horses for 10 months.

Why? Because there was a video circulating on Twitter a few months ago of a horse box bearing Hanlon’s name towing a dead horse, with it’s legs hanging out the back, through the streets of Paulstown, Co Kilkenny, on the way to an incinerator.

No, seriously, it’s true.

That clip did the rounds of X some time ago and now, rightfully, the chickens have come home to roost. We did see it at the time, and we thought that we best not make comment because, quite frankly, in this day and age, one can get in trouble for anything, especially misinformation.

We wished the video wasn’t true, in fact, we couldn’t believe it was true but in a sorry state of affairs, it seems it was.

How stupid can you get?

Parading a dead horse in the back of trailer in plain sight for all to see is moronic. Really moronic.

Assuming Shark didn’t have anything to do with it and that it was a bad decision made by his staff at the time, only puts emphasis on the type of people working with these animals who think that’s okay, because quite simply, who in their right mind would?

Only imbeciles who know no better.

To be perfectly clear, this isn’t the first incident of horse welfare that has included the Shark recently. Just days ago, a horse that used to be trained with him showed up on Facebook looking like a welfare case. It was bad. Obviously, he came out and defended himself, and his big, and valid, argument was that the neglect happened out of his control.

But come on, Sharky… you have a responsibility to do some KYC… assurance that your yard wastage is going to a happier place!?

A big figure in racing due to his involvement with HEWICK, no man is above the moral expectations of the British and Irish public. The new trash ITV Gallop docu-show-thing a case in point - people exterior to racing are going to know about Shark.

We anticipated there would be some racing X personalities, some more influential than others, who’d try give out a contrarian view on this matter in an attempt to keep up appearances.

It’s not political correctness gone mad, it’s gross negligence.

There is no other contrarian view here, just the wrong one.

Shark’s actions have been shit and his care free attitude has been punished.

GIDDY FOR GERRI

Look, we love the jumps, we really do… but the festival flat season is appealing more and more and we imagine one day, when asked what’s our preference ‘flat or jumps’, we’ll say flat. That’s coming.

Side note: we punt both but it’s really quite funny to see ‘tipsters’ message ‘bring back the jumps’ when they go through a bad spell. The jumps are hard… there are obstacles in the way! And that’s why the biggest bets are on the flat

Anyway, as soon as that last horse in the Leger crosses the line, you can almost guarantee that the Cheltenham oriented X accounts (yawn) will come out to play and with them their unbridled ante-post selections which, by the time March comes, will have been forgotten by absolutely everyone.

In anticipation of this plastic fantastic event, it’s only fair that we mention the potential route for GERRI COLOMBE this season after last year’s campaign that saw him finish second in a Gold Cup and win the Aintree Bowl.

Much like last year, the Ladbrokes Champion Chase will be where GERRI starts at Down Royal, a tried and tested route for all Gordon Elliott-trained horses. Think GALVIN and CONFLATED. Last year, he came into the race fresh against two rivals in ENVOI ALLEN and CONFLATED that had races under their belts. Because of this, it produced a cracking race that was eventually won by the subsequent Gold Cup runner-up.

It goes to show that if a trainer can ready one of their horses for the Ladbrokes Champion Chase, they could have a chance of catching GERRI COLOMBE needing fitness in order to win a Grade 1.

The race may not suit a horse like CORBETTS CROSS as it favours speed, but MONTY’S STAR, SPILLANE’S TOWER and even some of the Brits like PROTEKTORAT or L’HOMME PRESSE should be looking this way, no!?

Could GERRI COLOMBE then head to the King George after that? It hasn’t been discussed yet, but there was plenty of chat about him for the race last year, so they may want to join FASTORSLOW in heading over the Irish Sea to Kempton.

RISK ON

Slop picks for Ascot:

13.50 SHALADAR 5/1 EW

The only danger in this race is Todd’s but at the weights, this one is a slop monster. 5/1 should be an ew to nothing.

16.10 LOOKBACKSMILING

A pure pedigree pick - up against better horses but none better equipped blood wise to handle the deep mud. 6/1 - play the small win bet here.

16.45 AWAAL 6/4

Strongly fancied today and should take all the beating even in this ground.

Treble - top two to place top 3 and AWAAL to win pays over 10/1. The banker of the day should be SHALADAR to place top 3 at 5/4.

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