Shark Hanlon pulls off big Sandown upset while Paul Nicholls bags 410-1 five-timer

0


LIKE a scene out of Jaws, the unsuspecting Brits never saw the Shark coming.

With Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott fixing their sights on Punchestown, our top trainers probably thought it was safe to go back in the water.

2

Hewick bagged the Bet365 Gold Cup for trainer Shark Hanlon (top left)Credit: PA

But they were in for a nasty shock as John ‘Shark’ Hanlon’s 16-1 shot Hewick picked them off one-by-one to win the Bet365 Gold Cup.

The result proved a lifesaver for the bookies, as the defeat of Paul Nicholls’ well-backed Enrilo meant they avoided a total bloodbath, despite the champion trainer’s stunning 410-1 five-timer.

For County Carlow-based Shark, who was given the nickname as a teen as he towered over all the other kids on his hurling team, this was a well-executed, long-term plan.

Hewick had been laid out for Sandown’s £160,000 feature, and the way he travelled through the race under rising star Jordan Gainford suggested he was ready for his life.

The field had thinned out by the time they reached the third last, with the majority of the runners feeling the pinch at the business-end of a strongly-run 3m5f.

OFFERS OF THE DAY

William Hill: Bet £10 get £30 in free sports bets CLAIM HERE

Betfair Get A £20 Free Bet when you place £50 worth of bets. Repeat up to 5 times for £100 Free Bets CLAIM HERE

Paddy Power: Bet £20 and get it back as Cash if it LosesCLAIM HERE

Sky BetBet £5 Get £20 in free betsCLAIM HERE

William Hill: 18+. Play Safe. New customers using Promo code H30 only, Min £10/€10 stake, min odds 1/2, free bets paid as 2 x £15/€15, free bets credited after settlement of first qualifying bet, free bets will expire 30 days after the qualifying bet is placed, payment method/player/country restrictions apply. Begambleaware.org

Betfair – New customers place £50 worth of bets to receive £20 in free bets. Repeat up to 5 times to receive maximum £100. Min odds 1.2 (1/5). Multiple bets included. Exchange bets excluded. Payment restrictions apply. T&Cs apply. 18+ BeGambleAware.Org

Paddy Power: New customers only. Place your FIRST bet on any sportsbook market and if it loses we will refund your stake in CASH. Max refund for this offer is £/€20. Only deposits made using Cards or Apple Pay will qualify for this promotion. T&Cs apply. Paddy’s Rewards Club: Get a £/€10 free bet when you place 5x bets of £/€10+. T&Cs apply. 18+ Begambleaware.org

Sky Bet: New customers only. First single and E/W bet only. Odds of 1/1 or greater. 2 x £10 bet tokens. Free bet stakes not included in returns. Free bets exclude virtuals. Free bets are non withdrawable. No free bet expiry. Eligibility restrictions and further T&Cs apply. 18+. Begambleaware.org

But Hewick was still full of running, and while the brave Kitty’s Light tried to mount a challenge between the final two fences he was never able to land a glove on the winner.

The celebrations will no doubt have lasted long into the night, with Hanlon joking: “The plan was to go home tonight, but the plan has just changed!”

The larger-than-life trainer, who was responsible for giving Rachael Blackmore her big break, is making a habit of winning big pots with horses out of the bargain basement.

Last season he won a Grade 1 hurdle with £600 buy Skyace, and he bought the exciting Hewick for just £700.

Hanlon grinned: “He cost the same as a cow!

“It’s great, we were probably a bit unfortunate at Uttoxeter in the Midlands National when he was virtually carried out and Jordan pulled him up. 

“He said he was sorry as he thought we’d have won and I replied ‘don’t worry, we’ll win at Sandown’, and this is a race we’ve had in mind for a long time.

“He will have plenty of weight wherever he goes next, but he loves decent ground and he stays well, so maybe he will be a Grand National horse. 

“He was bouncing around the ring, I have never seen him so well, so I went and had a few quid on him.

“We love to go home with the Queen’s money!”

Most read in Horse Racing

It wasn’t a bad day at the office for 13-time champion trainer Nicholls, either, as he headed back home to Somerset with five wins and another trainer’s crown in the bag.

His big-race acca was headlined by the impressive Greaneteen (11-8), who bolted up in the Grade 1 Celebration Chase.

Knappers Hill (3-1) got the ball rolling in the first, before Saint Calvados (Evs), McFabulous (4-1) and Samarrive (10-3) made it a fab five.

Nicholls said: “It’s a great way to end the season, there is good prize-money here and the horses liked the ground.

Champion trainer Paul Nicholls saddled five winners at Sandown on Saturday

2

Champion trainer Paul Nicholls saddled five winners at Sandown on SaturdayCredit: PA

“It’s been another good year for us, we have won plenty of big races, even though we had the little dip in form in the middle of the winter.

“Greaneteen looked like a proper horse today. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves. 

“He has won a Tingle Creek and two of these now. On his day he is very good, he wasn’t beaten far in last year’s Champion Chase. That was awesome.

“It’s great to get a win into these horses, they are all talented and they have just had one or two things not go right this year.”

Nicholls is now within two of Martin Pipe’s record 15 trainers’ titles, and he is showing no signs of slowing down.

He added: “If you win the championship, like a football team winning the Premier League, you want to win it again.

“It’s great for the whole team, it is our aim every season, to keep the title. Once you get the taste you don’t want to stop – and we aren’t planning on stopping.”

FREE BETS GET OVER £2,000 IN SIGN UP OFFERS HERE

Commercial content notice: Taking one of the bookmaker offers featured in this article may result in a payment to The Sun. 18+. T&Cs apply. Begambleaware.org


Remember to gamble responsibly

A responsible gambler is someone who:

  • Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
  • Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
  • Never chases their losses
  • Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed
  • Gamcare – www.gamcare.org.uk
  • Gamble Aware – www.begambleaware.org





Source link

Denial of responsibility! Planetconcerns is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.

Leave a comment