John ‘Shark’ Hanlon will campaign against Hewick with Cheltenham’s Stayers’ Hurdle in mind before making a decision on whether to tackle the Grand National for a second time.
The 10-year-old finished eighth on his first attempt at Aintree last year but will be switched to hurdles for the time being with Newbury’s Long Distance Hurdle next on the agenda for the 2023 King George winner on Friday.
He won on his seasonal debut over wood at Thurles in the hands of Hanlon’s son Paddy, before switching to the bigger obstacles and finding the pace too fast at Wetherby in the Grade Two Charlie Hall Chase.
Hanlon now has a clear hurdling campaign in mind before making a decision on the National and said on Monday: “He’s ready for the long distance hurdle and we’ll go in the morning. He’s done some training this morning, a nice bit of work, so we’re ready for the road.”
“He (Paddy) won both rides on him and he’s riding him again and he’s really happy to be riding him again. He’s getting a lot of experience and we’re happy to have him riding him. He’s ridden him twice over fences and won over fences twice, so we don’t want to break that record – he’s got a 100 percent pass rate!
“They were going a million miles an hour at Wetherby and he just got overtaken early and maybe he wasn’t 100 percent that good.
“I think the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham will be the first and then we’ll have to talk. I’d definitely like to give him another chance at the Grand National, now I’m not completely saying he’ll go, but I’d like to do the Stayers Hurdle route until March and then we’ll make a decision.
“Jumping from hurdles to hurdles won’t make any difference. He’s jumping very well and hopefully everything will go well until March and then we’ll make a decision.”
Hewick’s best form comes on good ground, but Hanlon isn’t worried about the likely good to soft surface at Newbury.
He added: “I don’t think the ground will be too bad there. At the moment it’s good to soft and I don’t think there’s any rain coming. Over hurdles the ground isn’t as much of a problem as it is over fences. It’s just that the fences are so big and he’s so small that it takes a lot out of him to jump over hurdles so it won’t be that bad over hurdles.”
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