Dylan doesn’t rattle off big names when asked for role models, he found his hero during those years watching and listening.
“He never rode in the city much but everybody I spoke to, not many people had a bad word to say about him,” Dylan says of his father. “I know that I am his son, and maybe people will think I am biased, but a lot of people who are good judges liked him and he had good support from the right people.”
Gibbons is still claiming two kilograms in the city and he has rides in eight of the 10 races at the standalone metropolitan fixture at his home track on Saturday.
It was at The Hunter meeting last year that a masterful frontrunning ride on Matthew Smith’s filly Festival Dancer provided a first stakes win in the G3 Spring Stakes.
Now the focus is pushing for a metropolitan apprentice title many thought Gibbons was a lock for until Zac Lloyd moved south to join the powerful Godolphin operation.
“A lot of people might have thought I would race away with it … but I certainly didn’t,” Gibbons says. Zac is a great rider and Tyler (Schiller) won it last season and he is not too far away again. And then there is Reece (Jones) as well. They can rack up winners fast, there are some pretty good apprentices out there.
“It’s a long season, I will just try and keep my head down and ride winners.”
That last statement is very much on brand for Gibbons – in for the long haul – but just like when he heard the words ‘too tall’, his competitive fire is sparked when asked about his career goals.
“My long-term goal is to establish myself as a metropolitan rider,” he says. “I didn’t take up riding to poke around and pick up a wage, I want to be the best at it, I don’t enjoy anything unless I am the best.”
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