Hewick delivers fairytale win for Paddy

The fairytale story of the bargain wonder horse Hewick had another heartwarming chapter added to it when Paddy Hanlon rode him to victory in the Jimmy Neville Memorial Hurdle at Thurles last Saturday.

Hanlon, son of trainer Shark, has a special connection with Hewick and rides him out every day but this was the first time that he rode him in a competitive race.

The horse-mad teenager was there to lead up Hewick when he ran in the 2023 Gold Cup and was the first to reach him after he won the King George at Kempton later that year but he admitted it was the stuff of dreams to be riding him on Saturday.

“I ride him out every day but it is a different kind of feeling when you are riding him in a race but it was just great.

“Going down to the last, I just let him stride and it was great, he destroyed them. He stayed galloping for me and it never felt like I was getting caught,” said Hanlon.

He only found out that he having his dream of riding Hewick competitively fulfilled when the declarations were confirmed two days before the race and he was very grateful for the trust placed in him by his father and owner TJ McDonald.

“It was a great day, I couldn’t thank TJ enough for letting me ride him.

"All week I was asking dad would I be able to get on him but I wasn’t sure, dad hadn’t spoken to TJ at that stage. It was only on declaration morning that I saw my name was down beside him. It was a dream come true. Ever since I started riding racehorses he was there in the yard. He was one of the first horses that I started properly riding was him, when he was being schooled as a four or five year old. It was just great to get the ride on him,” said Hanlon.

As well as an emotional win for the jockey, it was a landmark win for the trainer as it was a first win since he regained his licence to train on 1 March following a suspension. There was no complicated instructions to the jockey on the way out.

“He just said that he was the best horse in the race and to just keep it simple. I just followed away, when I gave him a squeeze he stayed going for me, he was very honest,” said the younger Hanlon.

“Since the horses came back here training with dad they’ve all been running well. We opened a new gallop there and the horses are running well off it and hopefully they can stay going.

“It’s great for dad to get the ball back rolling and hopefully we can go onwards and upwards now,” he added.

The race was with a view to getting Hewick some track time before the Aintree Grand National on Saturday 5 April and the sights are now firmly set on one of the most famous races in the world.

“We are after having a lot of dry weather recently so hopefully it can stay like that for another two or three weeks until Aintree. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the weather forecast but the National has been the plan for the last six or seven months,” said Hanlon.

Hewick has been the horse of a lifetime for the Hanlons. He’s brought them to America, France, the Cheltenham Gold Cup and all going well, they are now set for a shot at the Grand National.

“To go to Aintree with a horse for the National is great but to go there with a live chance is something you dream of. It is the stuff of dreams. He owes us nothing, he’s been a great horse and he’s a superstar to us.

“He’s been the people’s horse now for a bit as well. He’s just brilliant, isn’t he? What more can you say about him?” said Hanlon.

Unfortunately, for the talented young jockey he is not eligible at this stage of his career to ride in the Grand National but he will be back on leading up duty at Aintree. That honour at Thurles fell to his brother Sean but Paddy has already let it be known that he is pulling rank again in Liverpool.

“I said to Sean coming back in there on Saturday to not get too used to it and that will be my job again in Aintree,” laughed Paddy.

“You have to have 15 winners over fences to be eligible for the Grand National so I can’t ride him. I don’t know what the story is with jockeys at the moment, it will probably be either Jordan Gainford or Gavin Sheehan. They are two top class jockeys and one of them will probably be lucky enough to ride him. He’ll go with a great chance at Aintree. It was a great prep run there on Saturday and he’ll go there with all guns blazing and hopefully he can do the job, but the main thing is that he comes back safe and sound,” said Hanlon.

Who knows what more Hewick can deliver but it could be that the most remarkable chapter off all in this amazing story is yet to be written.