Principal Jockeys: Andrew Lynch
Notable Wins:
- Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle (Berties Dream 2010)
- Cork International Airport Hotel Handicap Hurdle (Tai Lass 2007)
- Freshways Handicap Hurdle (Nintytwo Team 2007)
- Ward & Burke Contractors Handicap Chase (Broadstone Road 2003)
- Dawn Milk Handicap Chase (Broadstone Road 2003)
60 Seconds With Paul Gilligan
Q: If you weren’t a trainer, what would you be?
A: Probably be on the dole! Ah no, if I had stayed in school, I would have love to have been a vet.
Q: After taking out your license, it took quite a few years for you to start having winners. During this time did you ever have any doubts that training was for you, or did you always have a belief that things would come good?
A: I just had to keep working hard and hoping things would come right.
Q: After enjoying such a successful Galway Festival in 2007, it must have been very frustrating for you to see a number of your better horses get injured in the months that followed. How did you cope with that disappointment?
A: I just had to get on with it. That’s all I could do.
Q: Saddling a winner at the Cheltenham Festival is something that every National Hunt trainer dreams of. Did achieving this live up to all your expectations?
A: Most definitely yes. Missing our ferry on the way home wasn’t ideal, but I wasn’t going to complain.
Q: Do you have any specific aims for the months ahead?
A: Just keep having winners and look forward to the Galway Festival.
Based near Athenry in Co. Galway, Paul Gilligan worked for local trainers Pat Kelly and Pauline Gavin prior to setting up on his own and he had his first runner as a licensed trainer when sending out Farriersfriend to contest a bumper at the Galway Festival in 1998. However, success did not come quickly to him, with him having a limited number of runners during the seasons that followed, but that all changed with the arrival of a horse called Broadstone Road into his yard.
Broadstone Road The Stable Star
A son of Magical Wonder, Broadstone Road made his debut in a bumper at Killarney in May 2001 and while he didn’t acquit himself overly well on his first few starts, the penny soon began to drop and on July 20th of that year, he gave Gilligan his first win as a trainer when prevailing in a maiden hurdle at Kilbeggan. The following summer he added two successes in handicap hurdles to his tally, including a valuable contest at Listowel, but it wasn’t until he was sent over fences in 2003/4 that he really hit top form.
Having got off the mark over the larger obstacles in a novice chase at Navan in June 2003, Broadstone Road went through a remarkable run of form in the space of five weeks beginning in September of that year, winning two valuable handicap chases and a valuable novice chase in quick succession. The last of those three wins came in the Ward & Burke Contractors Handicap Chase at Gilligan’s local track Galway, which unsurprisingly meant an awful lot to the trainer.
Patience Rewarded
Unfortunately, after that remarkable series of wins from Broadstone Road, Gilligan entered an extended quiet period that saw him saddle just two winners in the next three seasons. However, there were some positive signs in the latter half of the 2006/7 season and the summer of the 2007 would see him very much return to the spotlight.
2007/8 started off in the perfect style for Gilligan, with him sending out Nintytwo Team to win a handicap hurdle at Sligo off a lowly rating of 79 and the following month he won again at Kilbeggan. A couple of weeks later, Gilligan completed the first double of his training career at Sligo, sending out Jadanli to stamp himself as a useful prospect by winning a novice hurdle and Tai Lass winning a handicap hurdle. A week later, Gilligan saddled Life For Rent to win a bumper at Tipperary and it was clear that the yard was hitting red-hot form just in time for the most important week of Gilligan’s year, the Galway Festival.
A Galway Festival To Remember
Nine years after he launched his training career at the Galway Festival, Gilligan returned there in 2007 with a team of just four horses, but the results he would achieve would bring him to national attention. The week began in pleasing if somewhat frustrating fashion, with Nintytwo Team, Tai Lass and Jadanli all finishing second in their first starts of the week. However, the penny very much dropped in the latter half of the week, with Nintytwo Team getting the ball rolling by gaining a somewhat unexpected success from 20 lb out of the handicap in the valuable Freshways Handicap Hurdle. The following day brought about even more success, with Gilligan completing an excellent double on the card, sending out Tai Lass to win the valuable Cork International Airport Hotel Handicap Hurdle and Life For Rent to easily win a competitive bumper. At the conclusion of the Festival, only the King Of Ballybrit Dermot Weld had enjoyed more success than Gilligan and it was very much a breakout point in his career. That wasn’t the end of Gilligan’s run of form by any means, as in the week that followed the conclusion of the Galway Festival, he added another three wins to his tally courtesy of the victories of Jadanli and Tai Lass at Sligo and Piano Star at Ballinrobe. In the weeks that followed, Life For Rent won a maiden hurdle at Listowel and Gilligan had numerous other horses go close.
Injuries Result In A Quiet Period
Unfortunately for Gilligan, just as he was really hitting his stride, many of his better horses suffered injuries that resulted in them needing significant amounts of time off. With Nintytwo Team, Tai Lass, Life For Rent and Jadanli all ruled out of action, it was no surprise that Gilligan had a quiet year in 2008, saddling just two winners. Despite these setbacks, Gilligan kept his head down and in the closing days of the 2008/9 season, his horses began to turn the corner and it wasn’t long before he was once again on the hot trainers list.
Back To Form With A Bang
Following the win of Aoife Costa at Kilbeggan in late-April, Gilligan soon erupted into form, saddling Present Gem to win at Sligo a few days later. With summer ground hard to come by in Ireland, at the backend of May Gilligan brought a team of horses over to Southwell in Nottinghamshire and came away with a double courtesy of the wins of One Cool Day and Best Of The Lot. June was a case of what could have been as, despite having saddled Lady Hillingdon to win at Limerick, he had seven horses finish in the frame from his other 13 runners that month. His horses were clearly in top form and it wasn’t long before they started hitting the mark, with him saddling yet another double, this time at Sligo, courtesy of Berties Dream and Bold Buccaneer.
While he didn’t enjoy the same level of success at the Galway Festival as he had in 2007, he did saddle Honours Graduate to win a competitive bumper there. In the weeks that followed the Galway Festival, Berties Dream stamped himself as a useful prospect by winning hurdle races at Sligo and Galway, while Lady Hillingdon was twice sent on successful raids to Fontwell in September. Not long after all this success, Gilligan was boosted by the return of both Jadanli and NintytwoTeam to the racecourse and both soon showed that they retained all their ability, with the former winning a novice chase at Navan in February and the latter finishing second in a number of valuable handicap hurdles. However, March would bring even more lucrative levels of success and would launch Gilligan onto the international racing radar.
A March To Remember
While Berties Dream had not won since his aforementioned success at Galway in August, he had been acquitting himself well in Graded company, finishing just under 10 lengths behind War Of Attrition in the Boyne Hurdle in mid-February. Despite that form, he was sent off at 33/1 for the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, Gilligan’s first runner at the most prestigious Festival of them all. Given an excellent ride by Andrew Lynch, the seven-year-old was produced to lead just before the final flight and stayed on powerfully to prevail by six lengths, giving Gilligan not only his first winner at Grade 1 level, but also his first winner at any Graded level. It was a well-deserved win for Gilligan, with him having had to survive a number of prolonged quiet spells during his training career to get him to get to that momentous point. As if that win wasn’t enough, in the weeks that followed Cheltenham, Gilligan sent out Romantic Lead to win a bumper at Cork and Brosna Val to win a handicap hurdle at Navan.
To The Future
With the strongest team of horses he has ever had at his disposal all in great form, the next few months look set to be very lucrative for the Gilligan team and no one would begrudge him the success he has and will enjoy, as he has come up the hard way in the training ranks. He now has a genuine star performer in Berties Dream and he could well have another Grade 1 performer on his hands in Jadanli, who will contest the Powers Gold Cup at Fairyhouse next week. All told, the future looks to be bright for the Co. Galway-based trainer.
Updated March 2010.
