Dylan Gibbons rattles off his week like a shopping list as he’s driving to Gosford on Thursday: Randwick, Rosehill trials, Gosford, Randwick trials, and then back to Rosehill Saturday. Not that the Newcastle jockey’s complaining—two years ago, he wasn’t riding at all.
“It’s a lot easier to get through the weeks when you’re looking at all the big races and all the good horses,” Gibbons told Newy.com.au in the days after his big Royal Randwick double. “It’s what you work for all year, and this is the time of year where you’ve just got to knuckle down and keep turning up.”
Knuckling down has certainly been paying off for the 24-year-old jockey. In just the past five weeks, he’s won a Group 1 on Global Goal, the $3 million Russell Balding Stakes on Pericles, and then clinched his Randwick back-to-back on Jamberoo, in the $750,000 Little Dance, and Polyglot a race later.
It’s a long way from where he was in 2024, when a damaged shoulder kept him away from racing as he focused on recovery. As it turned out, it was the perfect time to think.
Gibbons came up the way some Newy kids would dream of. He’s the son of a famed jockey, was apprenticed to Kris Lees through his early days, and even had two Group 1s on the board before his claim was gone.
“I had a pretty good taste and a good run of it as an apprentice, being able to always compete in the big races,” he said to Newy.
Then a maiden horse threw him before a race at Port Macquarie in October 2024. He felt something give in his left shoulder, but rode on for weeks before scans showed the damage. It turned out he needed a full reconstruction.
“When I hurt my shoulder, I probably wasn’t riding at my best, and it was probably a blessing in disguise to have six months off just to regroup and go again,” he said.
Those few months—long, hard, and “so slow”—were largely about recovery, but brought him what he called a blessing: the time to think. He didn’t love the answer at the time, but it’s proven to be exactly what he needed.
“I was born and raised in Newcastle, so it was obviously close to home, and being apprenticed to Kris Lees and having good, continuous support from him, I was happy being there in my comfort zone,” he said.
“Having that time off made me realise you don’t improve in any comfort zone.”
So he packed up for Sydney while he couldn’t ride anyway.
“With how hectic racing is, it gave me the time off I needed to work things out, find somewhere down here and get it all moved without the stress of trying to ride,” he said.
“Now I’m down here, I don’t have to worry about being out of sight, out of mind in Newcastle. It’s worked out well.
“Ever since I moved to Sydney, I’ve just been putting in the work at every meeting, every trial meeting, and you just keep slowly building from there.
“I’ve been lucky to ride for some good connections who have given me continued good support. The rides slowly get better, and as you’re able to get the better results, more good rides come through.”
That’s what he’s focused on: “Just keep putting in that grind, keep the head down and keep turning up week in, week out. The harder you work, the luckier you get.”
Just like he said, all that hard work turned into golden Spring Carnival chances.
In early October, Gibbons won the Group 1 Flight Stakes at Randwick (the race on Global Goal). It was his third Group 1, and his first since surgery.
“That was always a big milestone to tick, getting that Group 1, which [puts your] name up in lights again,” he said. “To tick off a Group 1 in the Carnival, that’s always your biggest [aim] each Carnival, so I was able to do that nice and early, and then the few wins that have followed have been nice bonuses.”
Those bonuses have been real crackers. Last Saturday, Gibbons and Pericles, a $17 shot for Bjorn Baker, went up the inside to win the Russell Balding in Randwick track-record time. Three days later, Jamberoo. Gibbons calls him “real tradesman-like,” and it’s hard not to see a bit of the jockey there, too.
“Even when he hasn’t won, he’s run well,” Gibbons explained. “He’s always honest; he always turns up and gives you 110 per cent.”
“He puts himself on speed, and he’s much better being chased than being a chaser. When he was grinding away around the corner, I gave him a couple of reminders just to get his mind on the job.
“Once he felt they were chasing him, he just kept trying to run away from them.”
That’s where rider and horse split, though. While Jamberoo may like to run, the Hunter jockey still has one eye on his hometown and his supportive family.
“I don’t miss the travel from Newcastle, but the good thing is it’s only a two-hour drive away,” he said. “Dad and the grandparents and Mum still live there, so I’ve always got somewhere to stay if I need to pop back for the weekend. So yeah, look, I obviously miss it, but I don’t miss the travel either.”
For now, though, a weekend home will have to wait. Saturday at Rosehill Gardens is next for Gibbons, where he’s looking forward to riding Zambardo, “a quality galloper on his day,” coming off a setback.
He also likes Sharjawiyah, a two-year-old for John O’Shea and Tom Charlton, and Cashout, a Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr horse stepping up from Melbourne.
All up, Gibbons is up for eight rides on the 10-race card, the first of them on Tropic in race one, the TAB Highway Handicap (1200 metres), at 12.25pm. The standouts are Cashout (race five, 2.50pm), Sharjawiyah in the $1 million Golden Gift (3.30pm) and Zambardo in the $2M Five Diamonds (4.50pm).
Once the Carnival quietens down, he’ll try to grab a week off, as he does twice a year, somewhere around Australia to enjoy the summer.
Then it’s back to the grind in Sydney, and the ever-increasing Carnival chances. “Hopefully that can springboard us into the Autumn Carnival when it comes around, and we keep doing the same thing each Carnival.”
Gibbons’ first race at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday afternoon will be at 12.25pm, on Tropic.
