TRAINER Shark Hanlon has been inundated with good wishes since saddling Hewick to win the King George VI Chase earlier this week and is hoping this latest big race win for the Co Carlow stable will bring new owners and new horses into the yard.

Famously bought for just €850 at Goresbridge Sales, Hewick was won over €700,000 in prize money. His 10 racecourse wins include a Galway Plate, Sandown Gold Cup, American Grand National and Oaksey Chase.

Last Monday’s King George was Hewick’s first Grade 1 win in these islands but he remains a 20/1 shot for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, his next target.

Speaking to The Irish Field yesterday, Hanlon said: “The horse is 100% after the race. We left Kempton at 6pm and the horsebox was home by 7am the following morning. We gave him a scoop of nuts and he was banging down the door to get out a few hours later.

“He will have 10 days off before starting his preparation for Cheltenham. He won’t run before the Gold Cup. He’s not a big, gross horse and he does not take a lot of galloping. That’s an awful big help in keeping him sound.”

Hanlon says his phone has been red-hot with congratulatory messages. Asked if he has been promised any more horses as a result, he said: “We’re getting enquiries. I’m just hoping a big owner might come on board.

“I have no owner to give €50,000 for a horse. When I have a nice horse I have to sell them. I sold Posh Trish [won six for Paul Nicholls] and I sold Young Buster [won his fourth race of the year yesterday at Kelso]. Hewick is my star and the rest of my horses are handicappers.”

Despite his success with Hewick – and fellow bargain basement purchase Skyace, who cost £600 and also won at Grade 1 level – Hanlon says the racehorse training business is tough.

“The costs are unreal,” he said. “I would say every trainer in Ireland is struggling because of the costs and no trainer would disagree with me. Two years ago a bale of straw cost between €10 and €15. It’s €40 today and that bale doesn’t go very far.”

Hanlon’s achievement in winning the King George was all the more meritorious given that Hewick had not run since finishing down the field in the Galway Plate. The trainer said: “He has only been in work nine or 10 weeks and I think there is more improvement in him. He ran well in a schooling hurdle at Thurles and then a schooling bumper at Naas 10 days before the King George when he had three Grade 1 winners behind him.

“Hewick is not a slow horse. He made the running in the Galway Plate and in the Gold Cup, but he could not lie up with them at Kempton. Thet were going a hundred miles an hour, so they had to stop.

“I just want to thank everyone at Kempton for looking after us so well. They even put on Christmas dinner for the five of us - Rachel, myself, our sons Paddy and Sean, and [amateur rider] Taylor Kingsley who had just arrived in my yard from America and hopped in the horsebox.

“It was a great result for us and a great day for Irish racing too.”