‘A break I didn't know I wanted but really needed': Dylan Gibbons' silver lining from shoulder reconstruction
This was the break Dylan Gibbons had to have. He just didn't know it at the time.
The star young jockey needed a shoulder reconstruction that was to keep him out of the saddle for five months.
There is never a good time to be injured but when Gibbons was told he needed surgery last November, he had just completed his apprenticeship four months earlier and was trying to establish himself as a senior rider in the competitive Sydney jockey ranks.
Rather than become disconsolate at the career setback, Gibbons found a silver lining.
'It was quite funny because during the first month or two I was out, I didn't realise how much I needed a break,'' Gibbons said.
'I had basically completed my whole apprenticeship without any time off. Even when I was suspended I still turned up for work.
'So, it slowly built up and it was only when I was out injured that I understood how tired I had become.
'This was a break I didn't know I wanted but really needed in the end.''
After Gibbons had his shoulder surgery, his comeback started when he began intensive physiotherapy – and he reckons he got lucky when he got to work with Cameron Dyer.
'Cameron was a sports physio for Manly and also a trainer for the Waratahs,'' Gibbons said.
'The surgery I had for a shoulder reconstruction, he was very experienced as that injury is common with footy players. It was a normal day's work for him treating my shoulder.
'With his knowledge all he had to understand was that jockeys work a bit differently to footy players. He was a massive help with my recovery.''
It was during his convalescence, Gibbons, also rediscovered his passion for race riding.
'Maybe I had become a little complacent with my riding but when I was out injured, I got that 'hunger' back,'' he said.
'I look back on it now and I honestly believe the break I had has been a blessing in disguise.''
Gibbons, 23, only returned to race riding about two months ago but his career is gaining momentum as he showed at Royal Randwick last Saturday with a brace of wins for the Bjorn Baker stable on Hollywood Hero and Miss Kim Kar that took the jockey over the 400-win milestone for his career.
Miss Kim Kar storms home on the outside and wins the last at Randwick! ðŸ'¥ @djgibbons22 & @BBakerRacing get their double to close out the day! ✌ï¸� pic.twitter.com/qTn29SLmDV
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 24, 2025
At Rosehill Gardens on Saturday, Gibbons has rides in eight races for five different stables including four mounts for Team Hawkes with Catahoula, Furious, Brave One and Liberty State.
The range of trainers that are using Gibbons is an indirect result of a decision the jockey made when out injured.
Gibbons, the son of leading Newcastle -based jockey Andrew Gibbons, was apprenticed to Kris Lees at Broadmeadow and despite his success during his apprenticeship, he had resisted the temptation to relocate to Sydney to further his riding career.
'I probably should have made the move to Sydney 12 months earlier,'' Gibbons admitted. 'But sometimes you don't fix what's not broken.
'But when I was off injured and knew roughly my comeback date, I decided to put my place in Newcastle up for rent and find a place in Sydney.
'When I told Kris I was making the move, he said I needed to do it. He has been a great supporter and still calls me to ride in trials for him from time to time.''
Gibbons' weekly trackwork schedule includes Randwick on Tuesday for Anthony and Sam Freedman, and also Michael Freedman, then on Wednesdays he goes to Warwick Farm to ride work for the Baker stable.
On Thursdays, Gibbons rides either at Randwick again for Peter Snowden or he will travel to Bong Bong to ride work for Ciaron Maher, then on Fridays he's at Rosehill for Team Hawkes.
'I've been going in and doing the work for them and they have been kind enough to reward me,'' Gibbons said.
'It's been good and I'm starting to build those connections with stables again. Hopefully I can keep getting the results on track and it snowballs from there.''
Gibbons, who rode two Group 1 winners during his apprenticeship on Explosive Jack in the 2023 Sydney Cup and on Kalapour in the 2024 Tancred Stakes, also used his period on the sidelines to gain some media experience which he believes has helped with his 'reading' of races and tactics.
Popular Channel 7 race day presenter Lizzie Jelfs suggested Gibbons join her on the Saturday panel as an expert commentator and he jumped at the opportunity.
Looking forward to having Dylan Gibbons join us on the desk again today 🙌 pic.twitter.com/qiB4WhfghP
— 7HorseRacing ðŸ�Ž (@7horseracing) December 28, 2024
'Lizzie was kind enough to speak with her boss, then one thing led to another and I did my first shift,'' he said.
'It was pretty cool, I enjoyed it and they asked me back a few times. I found I was watching races from a very different perspective.
'Normally, when I'm watching a race I'm looking at horses I rode or wanted to ride, or trying to find track patterns, so often you are not actually watching the whole race.
'This was another thing that helped me when I was off as it gave me a different perspective on how to look at races.
'It has helped me understand more where trainers, owners and punters are coming from when they are unhappy and how things can look sometimes, and it got me doing form a different way, too.''
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Due to his lengthy injury-enforced absence, Gibbons has only ridden five city winners so far this season – a far cry from the heady days of his apprenticeship during the 2022-23 season in which he had 72 city winners to be third on the jockey premiership, and second in the apprentices title to good mate Zac Lloyd, with 76 wins.
As Lloyd's star continues to rise in 2024-25 with 60 winners to be second in the premiership to James McDonald on 79 winners with two months of the season remaining, Gibbons has had to reset his priorities and ambitions after the injury setback.
But Gibbons isn't wondering about what might have been, instead he's using Lloyd's success to fuel his comeback.
'When Zac and I were battling it out for the apprentices premiership, we both found it difficult at times to be happy for each other,'' he said.
'There was that awkward tension when I rode a winner or when Zac rode a winner.
'But towards the end of the season we both learned to worry about our own riding and we found that happy medium about being mates and good competitors.
'I think that experience taught us a lot more than we probably thought.
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Gibbons is obviously in a good place, his injury issues are behind him and he's back doing what he does best, riding winners again.
'My shoulder isn't a problem now, and physically and mentally it is the best I have ever felt since I've been riding,'' he said. 'I'm just trying to work hard and capitalise on that now.
'You don't realise how full on this game is until you have a break like I did.
'You can get offended and think people forget about you but racing is on basically 364 days a year and things move quickly – that is why they say you are only as good as your last ride.''
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Gibbons, Team Hawkes join forces at Rosehill
Star jockey Dylan Gibbons is joining forces with the in-form Team Hawkes stable with four rides including fancied duo Brave One and Furious at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.
Promising three-year-old Brave One, part-owned by Rupert Legh of Chautauqua fame, goes second-up into the Asahi Super Dry Handicap (1200m).
Gibbons will also wear Legh's famous colours of navy, yellow lightning bolt, armbands and cap aboard Furious in the Ranvet Handicap (1500m).
This will be the first occasion Gibbons rides either horse but he was an interested observer of Brave One's first-up effort when second to Cruel Summer on a heavy track at Canterbury late last month.
'Brave One's first-up run was very good and I like the fact he's had about four weeks between runs,'' Gibbons said.
'When they have a first-up run on a heavy track an extra week or two won't hurt them so I figure that's a good set-up for him.''
☀� Cruel Summer loves the conditions today, and wins at Canterbury! @RachelK11 | @perry_racing1 | @aus_turf_club pic.twitter.com/KNyPl97ayB
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) April 30, 2025
•
Gibbons is also keen on the chances of lightly-raced five-year-old gelding Furious who should be peaking after two runs from a spell including his last-start second at the Kensington midweeks.
' Nash (Rawiller) rode Furious last start and he went towards the outside fence and Pippie Beach was able to 'snipe' up underneath him,'' Gibbons said. 'But he's racing well and should be hard to beat.''
Furious ($15) is too good for Trosettee at Caulfield ðŸ'° @JChilds47 gets a double ✌ï¸� @HawkesRacing pic.twitter.com/fyZ7tZj7DR
— Racing.com (@Racing) May 11, 2024
•
The Hawkes stable's Furious shares his name with the former champion filly who won the Victoria Derby, Rosehill Guineas, ATC Sires Produce Stakes and Champagne Stakes in 1921.
Furious from last century was such an outstanding racehorse that a three-year-old fillies feature race is named in her honour and run annually during the Sydney spring carnival.
Interestingly, the Registrar of Racehorses is responsible for considering and determining name applications and they adhere to a specific set of rules including the permanent protection of the names of champion racehorses like Phar Lap and Winx.
The names of Melbourne Cup and Cox Plate winners are also permanently protected while the names of other Group 1 winners cannot be used again for a minimum of 50 years.
Some of the elite Group 1 races have longer protection periods with the winners' names of the Golden Slipper, Caulfield Cup, ATC Australian Derby and Victoria Derby off limits for 99 years.
The naming application for Furious, the five-year-old gelding, was lodged in 2020 – which was exactly 99 years after the filly of the same name won the Victoria Derby.
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