Bargain-buy of a lifetime Hewick set for celebratory send-off

Trainer Shark Hanlon and son Paddy with Hewick after Grand National Pic: Tod Marks/National Steeplechase Association.

Purchasing a cheap horse and travelling around the world is what everyone in horse racing aspires to achieve and none lived up to those dreams more than Hewick.

The 11-year-old celebrates his retirement party on Saturday on the grounds of his loyal trainer John ‘Shark’ Hanlon’s stables at Fenniscourt, following a career which saw him win over £790,000 in prize-money.

Plucked as a two-year-old for just €850, Hewick went on to claim the bet365 Gold Cup, Oaksey Chase, Galway Plate, American Grand National and the King George – earning 932 times more than his bargain price.

As Hanlon looked back on his horse’s rags to riches story, the Irishman recalled how his retired star was actually meant to be named after a Scottish village.

“He was supposed to be called Hawick,” Hanlon said. “Because Tom Hamilton was riding out for us at the time.

“I said to him ‘is this a nice horse?’, he said, ‘this will win his four-year-old maiden’. I said to him, ‘where are you from?’, he said, ‘I’m from Hawick’ and I said, ‘we’ll call the horse Hawick’.

“When we sent in the name, the name came back wrong. It came back Hewick and my woman wanted to change the name and I said, ‘no, it wouldn’t be lucky to change it, leave it’. But that was the start of it.

“We gave him a few runs over hurdles and just over two miles wasn’t far enough, and so we went to Kilbeggan one evening and we had a few quid on him and he won.

“And from there on, everything went well. To go and win the Durham National, the bet365 Gold Cup, the Galway Plate and then the King George to finish it off, it’s brilliant.” 

It was not a smooth beginning for the T J McDonald-owned gelding, who took 12 starts under rules to register his first victory, but the County Carlow-based handler insisted he always had faith in his bargain-buy and revelled in the full-circle moment during Hewick’s final race, when he came third at Cork with son Paddy in saddle.

“Just everything went wrong (to start with). My yard was still out of form probably and he ran three or four times,” Hanlon, who is an ambassador for BOYLE Sports, continued.

“He was very consistent the whole way. He didn’t become a horse until he was a six-year-old, he needed time and some people don’t give horses time.

“If other people had got him, he may never have got the chance that we gave him and that’s probably a big thing, that we gave him every chance.

“I suppose his run at Punchestown there (in the Gold Cup) against Willie’s (Mullins) good horse (Galopin Des Champs) and Martin Brassil’s horse (Fastorslow) where he finished third only beaten a couple of lengths. That was a great run as well.

“Everyone remembers the days he won. I remember the days he got beat. He had a lot of wins, but he had a lot of days where he was a little bit unlucky as well.

“And then I suppose to top off the whole thing, my own son Paddy started with him and he ended up finishing off with him, riding two winners in Thurles, which was very, very important to us as well.

“Lucky enough the owner let Paddy ride him and he never tried to stop us. He said, ‘no, let Paddy ride him, he knows him’.

“Those are the moments you never forget. It’s very important. The whole of our parish at home got a great lift out of it.

“So he went on him and won twice and then on the day we retired him, just the ground was too soft. I thought going to Cork, he’d win the last day.” 

Triumphs in the American National at Far Hills and the King George at Kempton rank high for Hewick’s fans, but Hanlon revealed there is a different race that stands out among his 12 victories from 51 career starts.

“When he won in America, that was when he caught people’s eyes and then when he won in Kempton, people really roared him home and he looked well beat,” he said.

“But for me, I suppose the Galway Plate was my crowning moment, my father was beside me and he died after that. He hadn’t been racing for a while.

“He won the Galway Plate and both me and my father shed a few tears in the ring after he won because I knew my father wasn’t going to be around for long. That for me was an absolutely brilliant day. I had the whole family there. It meant a lot to us.

“It might have been the highlight of the horse’s success. It was my highlight because my father was with me.” 

Hanlon added: “There were great days and we went to America there. I had two young lads, Paddy and Sean, they were only young at the time. I went over a couple of days earlier and it was just great.

“The people in America, the crowd came behind us. When we landed in America and the horse won, every Irishman and Englishman that were to be seen in America, they were all Irish.

“They were all out in the field. There was no stand there, everyone was together and we were cheering and singing ‘Ole, ole, ole’. It was just amazing.

“He ran a cracking race in the Grand National (at Aintree), he finished eighth. If you took Willie’s two or three horses out he’d have been second or third. He ran his heart out in the National.” 

Hanlon is relishing the opportunity to open his gates for Hewick’s retirement party, where registered interest reached four figures and some visitors are flying across the Atlantic to say farewell.

“Well, I tell you, there’s 1,500 people signed in and there’s probably 500 out of that many that’s coming,” he concluded. “There’ll be a lot of people there anyway, but we’ll look after them the best we can.

“We’ll give them a bit of grub and a few drinks and a bit of music and whatever comes along the way. I ordered 20 kegs of beer, so we won’t let anyone go home thirsty anyway.

“Hopefully the weather will be good, which I think it will be. The gates are open for everyone. Anyone who wants to come, you’re welcome.

“There’s people coming from America and there’s an awful lot of people that are coming in from England, we’re not going to let down the side! It’s going to be hard to handle that many people, but we’ll have a go at it anyway.

“He’s been retired and he’s gone back up to T J’s, he’s a very good man to look after horses and this horse, it will be like going in a five-star hotel with him.

“We brought him to the pub after he went to America when we came home, we brought him into the pub and gave him a pint of Guinness. It made RTÉ news.

“You never know, he might get down there again. If he gets a little bit hot, he might get down on Saturday. He’s retired now, he’s allowed to relax.”