Image © Healy Racing
Liam Gilligan enjoyed a memorable first success as a point-to-point handler when Seventy Eight Team carried his mother Natalie’s colours to victory at Loughrea on Sunday.
The eight-year-old mare also provided local rider Colm Whyte with his first winner, making it a significant afternoon for the family yard.
“It was great to train the first one in Mum’s colours, and at the local track as well. It was all the better,” said Gilligan.
The ex-track performer Seventy Eight Team raced in mid-division before moving into contention approaching the final two fences. The daughter of Mahler stayed on well under Whyte to defeat the favourite Manor Gate by three lengths in the winners-of-one contest.
Gilligan also saddled Thetownilovedsowel, who finished fifth under his brother Ollie, but it was Whyte who returned to the winner’s enclosure on just his fourth point-to-point ride.
The 19-year-old Craughwell native has grown up alongside the Gilligans and works full-time in the yard.
“It was nice for Colm to get his first one. He’s been working hard here, and to give him a chance and for him to score his first one is good.”
Seventy Eight Team emerged from the race in good order, with a possible quick return to action under consideration.
“She’s fine. I’ll put her in again for this weekend. We’ll see how she is at the end of the week, and we might run her again.”
The victory came in Gilligan’s third season as a handler, following several placed efforts since he first sent out runners in the 2024/25 campaign.
He recorded five seconds in that opening season, with another two runners-up last term, although the horses’ form proved a source of frustration during the previous campaign.
“It’s nice when they’re running well. When things weren’t really going right last year and the horses weren’t 100 per cent, it was a bit frustrating. Hopefully, they seem to be in good order now.”
Liam comes from a family steeped in racing. His father Paul is a Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer, while younger brothers Danny and Jack are jockeys and youngest sibling Ollie is an amateur rider who recently joined the Doyles in Wexford.
Gilligan shares the family’s Galway base with his father, with the point-to-pointers occupying a section of the yard. The daily routine sees the track horses ridden out first, followed by the pointers.
He expects to have six or seven horses for point-to-points this season, alongside a small handful of three-year-olds being prepared for the spring campaign.
“I have a couple of okay four-year-olds that hopefully might do the job and get sold, and a couple of older horses.”
The move into training followed a riding career that brought 16 winners as a conditional jockey and another 13 between the flags.
A graduate of pony racing, Gilligan partnered his first track winner at the age of 16 in 2017 and switched to an amateur licence in 2020 as weight became increasingly difficult to manage.
He subsequently enjoyed success in point-to-points, riding seven winners in his best season in 2020/21, before injuries and the continuing battle with his weight prompted a change of direction.
“I was in Wexford with the Doyles, and I was getting injured and battling with my weight. I got injured and was out for a couple of months.
“I was at home for a good while, giving Dad a hand, and decided it would be a good time to start off with a few of my own and try to get them turned over.”
Having enjoyed success in the saddle, Gilligan now appreciates the time and work involved in preparing horses himself.
“A lot more work goes into it. When you’re riding, you hop off them and everything goes away. You put a lot more time and effort into them when you’re training them yourself.”
Working alongside his father provides both guidance and a useful measure of the young horses’ progress.
Gilligan says the routine at home is something he is keen to maintain.
“Just try to keep things simple and not change too many things. They might go in and out of form for a while, but they’ll come back once you don’t start changing too much.
“When you see the good horses here, it’s nice to compare a four-year-old with them after riding or galloping them together.”
The support of Paul and Natalie has been central throughout his time in racing, from pony racing to riding under rules and now handling his own runners.
“You wouldn’t do it without them. They’ve been very good.”
With his first winner secured, Gilligan’s focus is on keeping the team healthy and progressing the younger horses towards sales.
“Just to see the horses staying sound and running well, and getting a few moved on.
“Hopefully, that mare might win again and the older ones stay running well, but the objective is more to move on the young horses.”
