The most telling sign of his progress is what is happening right now. His win rate has climbed from 7% last season to 9% this year, and in the last two weeks he has won 1 from 7 rides — a 14% return that puts him ahead of his own seasonal average. Form like that, however modest the sample, tends to get noticed in racing yards. Trainers talk to each other, and a jockey who is winning at a better rate than expected starts getting the calls.
His strongest relationship is with the yard run by trainer Philip Hobbs and Johnson White, where he has won 13 from 103 rides together — that is 1 in every 8, noticeably better than his overall average. When a jockey and a trainer click, it usually comes down to trust: the trainer books you because they know how you ride, and you ride with more confidence because you know the horses. Thirteen wins from over a hundred rides is exactly the kind of steady, reliable partnership that forms the backbone of a jockey's career.
If you wanted to pick the best spot to watch Houlihan ride, Taunton would be a strong choice. He has won 5 races from just 20 rides there — 1 in every 4, which is a remarkable return and roughly three times better than his average elsewhere. Some jockeys simply suit certain tracks, whether it is the layout, the style of racing, or just accumulated experience round those particular bends. Whatever the reason, Taunton has been very good to him.
One partnership that has not clicked yet is with My Boy Aaron — six races together and no wins. Racing is full of combinations that look good on paper but never quite fire, and this appears to be one of them. But that is an outlier in what is otherwise a career moving in the right direction, one winner at a time.
| Course | Races | Wins | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exeter | 34 | 3 | 8.8% |
| Newton Abbot | 22 | 2 | 9.1% |
| Wincanton | 21 | 1 | 4.8% |
| Taunton | 20 | 5 | 25% |
| hereford | 17 | 0 | 0% |
| Chepstow | 15 | 1 | 6.7% |
| Ludlow | 13 | 1 | 7.7% |
| Ffos Las | 11 | 2 | 18.2% |
| Newbury | 11 | 1 | 9.1% |
| Warwick | 11 | 1 | 9.1% |
| Fontwell Park | 10 | 0 | 0% |
| Uttoxeter | 10 | 0 | 0% |
| Huntingdon | 9 | 0 | 0% |
| Kempton Park | 5 | 0 | 0% |
| Plumpton | 5 | 0 | 0% |
| Bangor-on-Dee | 4 | 1 | 25% |
| Aintree | 4 | 0 | 0% |
| Ascot | 4 | 0 | 0% |
| Ayr | 3 | 1 | 33.3% |
| Fakenham | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| Stratford-on-Avon | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| Cheltenham | 2 | 1 | 50% |
| Lingfield Park | 2 | 1 | 50% |
| Sandown Park | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| Worcester | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| Leicester | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| Haydock Park | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| Kelso | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| Southwell | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Wetherby | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Windsor | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Musselburgh | 1 | 0 | 0% |