'I'm disgusted, she left me looking a million dollars' - Shark Hanlon horrified at social media picture of filly

Shark Hanlon said he was horrified at a picture of Bedelia that appeared on social media this week after she left his stable looking "a million dollars" in June.

The picture of the four-year-old filly, who was unplaced in nine starts for Hanlon, was posted on X on Tuesday evening. She looked scrawny and malnourished, but Hanlon said she left his care over two months ago looking very different from how she looked in that post.

Hanlon said: "That filly ran her last race for me at Down Royal on June 22 and she actually won the best-turned-out prize that day. You don't get best-turned-out for the sake of it; you need to look well to win that. There were 13 runners in that race and she looked the best of them. The horse had to be looking really well to win that.

"She looked a million dollars in the video I took before she left the yard and I was absolutely disgusted and horrified to see the horse in that state."

Hanlon said the filly was sold to a "well respected" man who had bought plenty of horses off him in the past.

He said: "We decided after the race at Down Royal to move her on and I sold six horses to a man on June 26. I took a video of every one of those horses before they left the yard and have posted a video of Bedelia on social media before she left our yard, so everyone can go and take a look if they want. I took the videos for the man who bought them; he wanted to make sure the horses were sound and everything else.

"He bought the horses and he had to get the horses vetted the next day to go to England. They were all vetted and all of them were 100 per cent. He seemingly sent them to a dealer in England afterwards and I don't know anymore than that. 

"The first I saw of Bedelia since then was that picture that appeared on social media the other night, and I was absolutely horrified. I was disgusted. The man who I sold the horses to is a well-respected man who buys a huge amount of horses."

Hanlon believes the Bedelia story is part of a huge problem that exists in racing concerning the rehoming of retired racehorses.

He said: "The horse in that picture was sold over ten weeks ago. How could I be responsible for a horse who was sold ten weeks ago? I rehome as many as I possibly can at home here, but it's impossible to rehome every single one of them."

He added: "What are trainers supposed to do with horses who have finished their racing careers? Owners don't want them back. If you have five lads from a town who buy a horse and he turns out to be no good, they can't bring him home and let him out in their back garden. It's a massive problem and something needs to be done about it urgently."

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