THE rising star of the Irish jump jockeys’ weigh-room has already gone into the racing record books.

For Danny Gilligan has become the first Galway rider ever to lead the Irish National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship.

Nearly seven weeks into the new season, the Craughwell native is setting the pace with 13 winners already to his credit.

It’s a phenomenal achievement for Gilligan who was joined at the top of the championship table by Patrick Mullins after the leading amateur landed the bumper in Sligo on Tuesday evening with odds-on chance Aurora Vega.

A son of trainer Paul Gilligan, and younger brother of accomplished riders Liam and Jack, the 17-year-old is operating with a strike rate of almost 22% since the start of the new National Hunt campaign.

The 7lb conditional is making the most of the opportunities afforded to him since linking up with trainer Gordon Elliott as, remarkably, the yard’s regular jockeys, Jack Kennedy, Jordan Gainford and Sam Ewing, are all currently on the casualty list.

After riding a double on The Greek and New Year Honours at Punchestown on Saturday, Gilligan keep his hot streak going at the Co Meath track 24 hours later when market leader Salvador Ziggy comfortably obliged in the beginners’ chase on the card.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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