Consistency has been a key focus for Dylan Gibbons this season, and it will continue to be his mantra into the next.
But winning Group 1 races is what every jockey dreams of and if he can add the final major of the 2025-26 racing term aboard Infancy in the Tattersall’s Tiara (1400m), it will provide the perfect sweetener to a successful year.
A talented apprentice, Gibbons had been part of the next wave of young jockeys coming through the ranks alongside the likes of Zac Lloyd and Tyler Schiller, but a shoulder injury suffered at the end of 2024 halted his momentum.
Returning to the saddle last year, he worked hard to regain a solid foothold in the competitive Sydney arena and while it took time and perseverance, the rewards started to flow.
With 38 metropolitan wins in Sydney this term, Gibbons sits eighth on the jockeys’ premiership table, his highlights including Group 3 victories aboard Southend in The Baillieu and Piggyback in the Parramatta Cup.
“If you go back a season, things dropped off a bit compared to how they were going when I had the claim, so I had to rebuild, so to speak,” Gibbons said.
“I wanted to re-establish myself, be a consistent city rider, and keep chipping away at the winners.
“I’ve had a good provincial season, and those horses can eventually turn into city winners. Fortunately enough, I’m also getting near the forty (metropolitan winners) mark which has been good.”
Gibbons has tasted Group 1 success twice aboard Explosive Jack in the 2023 Sydney Cup (3200m) and Kalapour in the 2024 Tancred Stakes (2400m).
He is hoping to add to that haul when he links with Infancy in the Tattersall’s Tiara and says the $51 chance is capable of surprising.
A slashing second in the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes (1200m) in April, Infancy was midfield in the Luskin Star Stakes (1300m) at Scone, and again in the Bob Charley Stakes (1200m) dominated by leader Wanaruah.
While the backmarker will need luck from an awkward draw, and a solid tempo, if she gets those Gibbons expects her to be in the finish.
“She has over-achieved her whole career and done a remarkable job,” he said.
“The 1400 metres is getting near her maximum distance, but when she was in that brutally run 1300 (Luskin Star Stakes) with Whinchat and Phearson leading, they ran it like a mile race and she was there to the fifty metres and got chopped out.
“If she can get the right run, she has got a wicked turn of foot.”
Gibbons also partners tough sprinter Brudenell for Lees in the W J Healy Stakes (1200m) and would love to see the dual Listed winner land an overdue Group success.
“He is one of my favourite horses. I’ve won four or five races on him now,” Gibbons said.
“He is honest as the day is long, and he’s only gotten better with age. If things go his way, you know he’s going to give one hundred and ten per cent, and it would be nice to see him get a Group win.”
Gibbons has a solid book of eight rides at Eagle Farm with bookmakers marking Geemes ($5.50) as his best chance for a win in the Listed Tattersall’s Gold Crown (2100m).
