HORSE racing fans will have a chance to see what goes on behind the scenes at one of the country’s leading yards when John ‘Shark’ Hanlon hosts an open morning…
I m on the Kilkenny/Carlow border and my post is Carlow but I m a Kilkenny man. The nickname Shark came from a hurling game when I was 18 in Kilkenny. I was playing full forward - I wasn t much good but I was big and awkward and kept a full-back busy. A couple of balls came in and I was lucky enough to catch them and throw them to the corner forwards to score goals and Pa Dillon shouted on the sidelines: "Would someone cut the head off that shark and we can all go home now?!" I remember we won that final and came back to Paulstown, and they said the man of the match was the shark. From that day on, I ve been known as the shark.