The 10-month suspension handed out to trainer John ‘Shark’ Hanlon last week for causing reputational damage to racing is set to begin on December 1st.
On Thursday it emerged that Hanlon had requested the start of the penalty imposed for transporting an uncovered dead horse, film of which emerged on social media in June, be deferred to April 1st of next year.
However, an IHRB referrals panel has turned down his request on the basis that the extended period sought would “undermine the IHRB’s regulatory authority and the deterrent purpose of sanctions generally”.
Hanlon had applied for a deferral following last week’s decision and the referrals panel concluded a reasonable date for the sanctions to begin would be December 1st.
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Earlier this week, Hanlon’s solicitors applied for a deferral to April 1st, 2025, citing the nature and extent of the trainer’s business and the difficulty of making specified alternative arrangements with the original proposed deferral date.
On Thursday, the panel chaired by Justice Tony Hunt rejected that argument and pointed out how other trainers had the same, or shorter, period in other cases to make such arrangements.
Hanlon can reapply for his licence after five months if certain conditions are met. He has lodged an appeal against the severity of the penalties handed out to him.
An IHRB statement said: “The committee decided that it saw nothing in the material submitted to justify deviation from the initial suggestion that the effective date of the sanctions should be December 1, 2024.
“The committee acknowledged in the initial decision that these sanctions would be burdensome for Mr Hanlon in various ways. However, there was nothing in his circumstances to differentiate them from those of other trainers put in the same position by similar decisions in other cases.
“These cases informed the initial proposal by the committee of a deferral to December 1, 2024. To defer a sanction of five or 10-months duration (depending on the ultimate approach taken by Mr Hanlon) for well over six months would tend to have the effects suggested by the IHRB and would disproportionately dilute the effect of the withdrawal sanction.”
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