'We grew up on the Ponderosa and that place means a lot to me'

“He came into the yard, the quietest kid you’d ever meet. Totally unassuming but just a natural. I knew very quickly, I said it to the lads in the yard, this man’s my jockey”.

In 2017, Kiltale trainer Ger Lyons spoke to the Irish Field about Trim jockey Colin Keane who at the time had just won his first Irish Jockeys Flat Championship.

Lyons notoriously has very high standards and his quote speaks volumes about how big an impression his future potential son-in-law (Colin is engaged to Ger's daughter Kerri) made in his yard at a very early stage.

The pair forged a very successful partnership together and Lyons was the backbone behind all six of Keane’s jockey’s championships, but even Lyons himself will probably be surprised at just how successful Keane has been in the saddle since winning that first title nine years ago.

As much as Keane has achieved since then, that first titanic title battle with the late Pat Smullen still evokes fantastic memories for the six-time champion.

“The first one was obviously special and probably stands out. I had a great tussle with Pat (Smullen) that year who was going for his 10th title while I was trying to win my first. To come out on top that year was brilliant. It was a long year and a hard slog. I was lucky to have the backing of Ger (Lyons) and I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.”

Breeding is such a vital component when it comes to producing top quality races horses but when you think of names like Walsh, O’Brien, Carberry, the importance of bloodlines can also be applicable to producing successful jockeys.

Keane’s dad Gerry has had such a massive influence on the 32-year-old’s career and in the early years of Colin’s riding career, the pair struck up a fine father-son partnership.

“I started off with my dad which was great and I was able to get my bearings in Dundalk during the winter. No Trimmings came along and gave me my first winner on the track. She was a nice three-year-old filly who had won a few races but had lost her way a little bit," recalled Colin.

"Robbie Moran who used to ride her, suggested claiming off her. That is how I got the opportunity to ride her and I struck up a good partnership with her. Another horse of Dad’s that I had a good partnership with was The Fox Tully who won some nice pots. That got the ball rolling for me and I was very grateful to get those winners.”

It was at Gerry’s yard, The Ponderosa, that Keane honed his craft in the saddle and the yard itself holds a very special place in his heart. “We grew up on the Ponderosa and that place means a lot to me. When my father switched to training in Navan for a few years, it turned into a riding school for my mother to run and I used to give her a hand with that.

"When my father moved back into it there was a lot going on there between breaking, pre-training and training horses. It is a yard that always played a huge role in my life and my family are very lucky to have it.” The aforementioned Irish Flat Jockeys title in 2017 catapulted Colin into the limelight but he had to wait another three years before his next successful bid at the championship.

After that though the titles started to flood in for the Trim man and he won five on the spin. 2021 was a particularly memorable campaign for Keane as he set a new record for the number of winners ridden in Ireland in a season.

“Nothing really shifted in how we went about doing things in 2020, the success came naturally enough. Each year the yard was getting bigger, and better quality horses were coming in.

"From 2020 onwards, we just kept getting nice horses and Ger is well able to train and place them. I broke the record in 2021, which was an unbelievable year. Ger had his best tally as well that year which was a fair achievement.”

Interestingly enough, Keane spoke about how the competitive edge to the race for a jockey's title largely stays on the track. He again referenced his battle with Smullen back in 2017 as a good example of mutual respect between rivals.

“When you are in the middle of a battle for a jockey's championship, all the competition is out on the track itself," he said.

"For example, during that battle with Pat in 2017, there would not have been that much chatter or digs between us if I rode a winner or if he rode a winner, there was none of that to be honest. You are always polite to each other. However, when you get out on the track you don’t give an inch to each other.”

In June of 2025, Keane’s illustrious career took another leap forward when he was appointed as the retained rider for Juddmonte. Many people in the industry felt that Keane had been long overdue the chance to ride for an operation similar to the scale of Juddmonte but he himself feels that the opportunity came at the right time.

“I wouldn’t have thought that sort of opportunity was overdue for myself. I think it came at the right time. I got a very good grounding in Ireland for many years," insisted Keane.

"I had the joy of winning six Irish championships. It was probably a good next step in my career and I do think it came at the right time for me.

“Top class horses are hard to come across but when you do get them, you can feel the spark in them, they stand out. You appreciate them when you get to sit on them. Juddmonte are a massive operation. Obviously they have lovely older horses, a great crop of three-year-olds, and the two-year-olds look nice as well.”

Every great sportsperson always set targets and objectives for themselves.

Keane spoke about how his targets are more numbers based rather than specific races that he wants to win.

“My personal objectives are generally numbers based rather than specific races that I want to win. There might be a race that you want to win, but you might never get on a horse that is suited to it.

"When you do get horses for those big races you obviously want to deliver and you like to get the job done. However, my objectives are usually numbers-based.”

Despite his approach to objectives, Keane’s CV is already filled with big-race winners.

Three Irish Classics, Royal Ascot winners, Breeders' Cup wins, a champion bumper at Cheltenham and several British Group One wins for his new employers all form part of what is an already legendary career for the Trim jockey and at just 32 years of age, the likelihood is that Keane will have several more years in the saddle and will keep setting new heights.