Jockey Jack Gilligan is out to rebuild his career in Britain after nearly a decade in America, where he rode more than 400 winners – and saw both positive and negative aspects to the Stateside version of the sport
Nine years older with more than 400 winners added to his career tally, jockey Jack Gilligan has returned to Newmarket after nearly a decade in the US.
Apprenticed to Sir Mark Prescott when he decided to pursue a new career in Kentucky in 2014, the son of former trainer Patrick Gilligan left Britain with only four victories to his name from just 27 rides.
However, his claim – or ‘bug’, in US parlance – and light weight made him a more attractive proposition Stateside, as a record of 407 wins from 4,096 rides testifies, among them a pair of G3 victories on his favourite, Silver Dust. (It would have been three but the Bret Calhoun-trained gelding lost one after a positive test.)
Still only 27, Gilligan – no relation to his Irish namesake who rode a winner over jumps at Cheltenham on Saturday [Nov 18] believes that he can put his strength and experience to good use over the British winter in a bid to establish himself in his homeland.
Taste for American racing
So why did he go and, just as importantly, why is he back? “I got a taste for American racing when I went to Churchill Downs and Keeneland while on an exchange trip between racing schools,” explains the jockey.
“I had a really good year and a half or so while apprenticed to Sir Mark, but he wasn’t able to give me a whole lot of opportunities and America was always in the back of my mind.”
Gilligan’s father had US citizenship, which helped with getting the necessary green card. “I was light enough and young enough to give it a go,” he adds.
“I was initially going for six months, but I had such a good winter that I decided to stay. I was riding three winners 
in a day sometimes and making money, riding just four days a week and with no mucking out or evening stables and those sort of things.
“I never really thought about returning as I was loving it, riding at Keeneland and Churchill in the summer and later at the Fair Grounds in the winter to get out of the cold. Even after losing my claim I was still averaging 40 or 50 winners a year, which was fine as the money was so good.”
Such was Gilligan’s initial success that his mounts topped the $1m earnings mark every year from 2015 to 2019, reaching their high water mark in 2018 when he reached $2m; he achieved his career-best 72 winners in 2017.
Injury, though, was to hamper Gilligan. “In 2020, just before the pandemic, I had a really bad fall at the Fair Grounds and I broke my collarbone, my jaw, both eye sockets and my nose, and I was also badly concussed,” he explains.
On the brink of moving up a level
“I thought I was on the brink of moving up a level and I worked really hard to get back to ride Silver Dust, but just as I got cleared to ride they shut down racing.”
Having just bought a house, Gilligan suddenly found himself without an income, but he got going again later in the year and was on a hot streak back at the Fair Grounds when he had a second, even more serious, fall.
“A horse slipped over in the gates and I broke the same collarbone and got pretty bashed about again,” he says. “I had another bad concussion and got referred to the Tulane Institute of Sports Medicine, where they told me I needed to take time out or else I might suffer irreversible damage.
“There had been no bleed on the brain, but I was struggling with my balance and it was eight months before I showed much improvement. I thought my career was over and I was contemplating retirement but the time off did me a lot of good and I got back racing for 2022, when I had one of my best years in earnings.
“This year was good too and I was feeling really great, but as I’ve got older I’ve got stronger and put on muscle, so weight became a problem, as most races on a typical card require you to do 118lb (8st 6lb) and in America you don’t get an allowance for your equipment.”
On the other hand, Gilligan can comfortably do 8st 10lb under the British system, and with agent Simon Dodds behind him he has high hopes he can prolong his career in the saddle.
Enjoying the different culture
Back in Blighty he has had just a handful of rides so far but he is enjoying the very different culture and is riding out again for the hugely respected Prescott, as well as Marco Botti, Phil McEntee and up-and-coming Ollie Sangster.
He says: “Nothing is guaranteed, but I’m riding really well and if I get the opportunities I’ll be making the most of them.
“I’ve got a lot of experience and in America I was known for being very good on the front end. Having had such a good schooling from Sir Mark I was also known for giving good feedback.”
Reflecting on his time in America and some of the main differences in a jockey’s life compared to Britain, he says: “Obviously in America the money is great and the lifestyle is great. You can live 20 minutes from the track and get three days off a week.”
Mind you, it isn’t all beer and skittles in the US, as he freely admits. “The downside is that the riding isn’t as enjoyable as the horses are quite buzzed up and injuries are more of an issue,” he says.
“It was great being able to make quick money and get all that experience, and on the big days there’s a brilliant atmosphere – but as a day-to-day rider, not always getting on the best horses, it sometimes felt as if I was in the Somme. It wasn’t a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’.”
Gilligan says the scales were eventually lifted from his eyes. “You might tell a trainer something wasn’t right with a horse, but they would keep going with it anyway,” he says. “When I was first there everything was shiny and great and I was too excited to have misgivings, but in the end the bad outweighed the good.”
The contrast back in Newmarket is stark, Gilligan feels. “I’ve been loving it out in the mornings, riding classier horses who will switch off for you and drop their heads,” he says.
‘Nobody is cutting corners’
“They are all presented beautifully and they are in historic yards rather than industrial-style barns. Everything is done right by the horse and nobody is cutting corners.”
That said, Gilligan doesn’t rule out returning to American racing in some capacity. “I’ve still got my house in Kentucky, and my parents are there too,” he says.
“My dad Pat has been an assistant trainer there but is now concentrating on his writing, and my mum, Vicky, has a really good job as one of the yearling managers at WinStar Farm, where she had Triple Crown winner Justify in her barn.
“If things don’t go well this winter I’ll probably hang up my boots and go into some other area of racing. The bloodstock side and the managerial side have always interested me, and so does the racetrack side, especially in America, where I feel I could help the sport with my experience.”
Bahrain International Trophy: Spirit Dancer gives Man Utd legend Ferguson a day to treasure
View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers / sires