Gilligans on target with Sequestered

A runaway winner of the Adare Manor Opportunity Handicap Chase at Leopardstown on Sunday, the six-year-old looks set to be aimed at Ireland’s richest National Hunt race at Fairyhouse in April.

Trained in Craughwell by Paul Gilligan, Sequestered coasted home on his handicap debut at the Foxrock track, having ten lengths to spare over Doran’s Law at the line.

With his son Jack in the plate, it was a double celebration for the Gilligan family and with a hefty penalty likely, Sequestered’s sights will now be raised in the weeks ahead.

“It’s a great thrill having a winner at the Leopardstown Christmas Festival and he won very easily. He’s a horse you don’t need to force from the start, and he jumped his way into the race.

“Jack gave him a great ride; he went up the inner. These are the days you work for. He could be an Irish National horse; he jumps and stays, but I will talk to the owners Paul [Lyons] and Tom [Quinn) about our options.

“Novices have a good record in the Irish National, but we might also take a trip to Cheltenham. He didn’t fire over there last year, but he’s on-song now,” said Paul Gilligan.

His stable star, Buddy One, which has yet to live up to expectations over fences and finished a well beaten third behind Croke Park in the Grade One Racing Post Novice Chase at Leopardstown on St Stephen’s Day, could return to the smaller flights.

“He’s not getting away from his fences as quick as we would like, but he is more of a spring horse. We could run him in the Galmoy Hurdle at Gorwan Park in late January,” revealed Gilligan.

Just an hour after Sequestered’s triumph at Leopardstown, Gilligan turned out 12/1 chance Annamaymurt to take the runners-up position in the Cuchulainn Maiden Hurdle at Limerick.

Another member of the Gilligan clan, Danny, has come in for high praise from winning connections after getting the “fractions perfect” on the pacesetting King of Kingsfield in setting stable companion Brighterdaysahead up for a stunning success in the featured Neville Hotels Hurdle at Leopardstown on Sunday.

Gilligan – last season’s top conditional – was on the mark the previous day on another Gordon Elliott trained runner when Dee Capo prevailed by a neck in the Ballymaloe Rising Stars Beginners Chase.

Another Galway jockey on target over the Christmas period was leading amateur Derek O’Connor, who steered home Bioluminescence to a comfortable victory in the Dawn Run Mares Novice Chase for the in-form Gavin Cromwell yard at Limerick last Friday.

Pictured: Galway Jockey Jack Gilligan returning to the winners' enclosure at Leopardstown on Sunday after landing the Adare Manor Opportunity Handicap Chase on Sequestered. The six year-old is trained by Jack's father, Paul, and is being led in by Ollie Gilligan.