ItÕs not on a plate for Nintytwo Team

John McIntyre

THE West of Ireland has been searching for a long time to produce a trainer capable of mixing it on a consistent basis with the ‘big boys’ from the more traditional National Hunt locations of the country, but that protracted quest finally looks to be over.

This time three years ago, Paul Gilligan was a virtual sporting unknown, but he served notice of better things to come when his Craughwell-based yard turned out three winners, Tai Lass, Jadanli and Nintytwo Team, at the 2007 Galway summer festival.

Naturally, some racing aficionados wondered if those successes at his local track were a ‘flash in the pan’ for Gilligan, but he continues to prove the sceptics wrong with the Co. Galway trainer achieving landmark triumphs at both last season’s Cheltenham and Fairyhouse festivals.

In becoming the first ever trainer from the West to saddle a winner, 33/1 chance Berties Dream in the Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle, at the big Cheltenham meeting last March, Gilligan showed he could prepare a quality horse to land a quality race. He was no longer perceived as just running one of those low key Irish yards able to produce the odd well treated horse to win moderate handicaps.

Over a fortnight later, Gilligan went on to achieve another Grade 1 success and his biggest in Ireland so far after ex-invalid Jadanli, owned by his father Eamonn, romped home by 23 lengths in the Powers Gold Cup at Fairyhouse in early April.

Both horses, now out of the novice grade, are only returning to work after their summer break and Gilligan is aiming for big targets next season. “The thing with Jandali will be to keep him sound, but he might have the potential to be a Gold Cup (Cheltenham) horse next season. Berties Dream will probably go down the staying hurdle route, but we will school him over fences to see how he gets along.” 

In the interim, Gilligan is saddling a strong team, both in quality and numerical terms, for next week’s Galway summer festival and he has the meeting’s two flagship events, the tote.com Galway Plate and the Guinness Hurdle, in his sights.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune Racing Supplement.