Gary Geran back to his best following short retirement

By Jordan Gerrans

For a bloke who was retired from race riding not long ago, Darling Downs hoop Gary Geran is absolutely flying. 

He has been in vintage form in recent weeks. 

The 53-year-old piloted a winning treble at Roma on Saturday which followed a double at Clifford Park on the program for the feature King of the Mountain. 

Earlier in March he collected another double at Toowoomba. 

In the weeks prior, he rode two more winners at the Clifford Park track. He has nine winners from his last 50 bookings. 

The experienced hoop is not one to pump himself up but after a two-year hiatus from race riding, he is chuffed with his prolific run in recent weeks. 

“I think I'm riding really well, I'm really happy with how I feel,” he said.

“I feel really good and I think I'm riding as good as ever.

“I’ve always been a competitive person, I think I can ride at the level in Brisbane or anywhere I go, I'll be competitive on anything.

“If it's a good ride in town, I'll be there to ride it and I'll give it every chance - I'm quite confident about that.

“I don't lack nothing as far as confidence goes in my ability, even at my age.

“I'm 54 in the next couple of weeks and while you still have that competitiveness, I think you should keep going.”

Back in December of 2023, Geran called time on his career in the saddle after around 35 years of riding.

The retirement lasted almost two years as Geran made a shock return around the same time as the famous Birdsville carnival of 2025.

He did so to partner Without Revenge, who is trained by his wife Kyle and son Corey, and they went on to finish third in the Cup.

The comeback has rolled on from there.

“To be truthful, you don't get many opportunities in life to keep doing what you want to do,” he said.

“So, I thought, I still enjoy riding and if I'm going to come back, I'm going to go into it pretty solid and do it properly.

“I'm not a person just to come back and poke around, have one ride here, one ride there.

“I have got the competitive nature. That's how it is, unfortunately for me. That's what I'm like. I like to compete.”

The Geran stable have put different structures in place which allows the returning hoop to enjoy going to the races more than he was in previous years, which include not riding as much trackwork.

They have horses at their main Toowoomba base as well as a smaller barn at Dalby. 

“The two years off was probably good,” Geran said.

“I was probably fairly burnt out and thought that was it for me. We had a big stable back then and I was working extremely hard.

“Now, I'm out in Dalby here with Kyli and we look after horses out here. I'm probably not riding as much work as I used to, which is probably better.

“I don't burn out as much, so I can keep riding. That has been a big change, I don't go in and ride as much work in Toowoomba now.”

At his peak, Geran ballooned up to 73kg during his short-lived retirement.

When he made his return last year, he joked that he wanted to get back to the races so he can find some clothes that fit him.

Geran has long been a hoop who has battled with his weight and when he decided to retire from race riding, he wanted to give his body a breather from all the wasting and losing weight.

He heads to Gatton and Toowoomba over Friday and Saturday and will take rides as low as 56.5kg.

He has two bookings for Gatton on Friday, which includes Without Revenge, and four for Clifford Park under lights on Saturday.

While Geran is fueled by his own competitive spirit in his comeback, a couple of apprentices within his own barn are also spurring him on.

Emerging youngsters Reece O'Connell and Kayla Barker are indentured to Corey and Kylie.

Geran appreciates the challenge of mentoring the up-and-coming talent.

“It's pretty good because I get to ride with them a bit and even in the jockey's room, you get to help them if they make a mistake or I see something,” he says.

“It's pretty good to be able to be in there straight after the race and pick out little things or congratulate them on a good ride.

“I find that's good with the young kids when you're right there with them, when something goes wrong or right and you can praise them or you can pick up where they went wrong.

“They are both good kids that are progressing well. I cannot fault them.

“They both want to learn, they listen, they take everything in and it's been probably just an added bonus that I've been at some meetings.

“I quite enjoy that, helping them along and I have a good relationship with both of them.”

Barker and O'Connell will both ride alongside their mentor at the Gatton meeting on Friday.

The Geran camp have another apprentice waiting in the wings as Akasha Beresford has competed in a number of trials in recent weeks as she builds towards obtaining her licence.