Johnny G Celebrates 51 Golden Years

Popular former internationally travelled champion jockey Johnny Geroudis celebrated his 51^st birthday on Wednesday with his wife Yanti at the scenic God’s Window on the Drakensberg escarpment in Mpumalanga.

The charismatic retired jockey, who hung his boots up almost five years ago after a detached retina injury to his left eye in 2015, was spotted looking debonair in a tailored suit and tie at Kenilworth Racecourse on the sunny January afternoon that Queen Supreme impressed with a  second consecutive victory in the Cartier Gr1 Paddock Stakes.

“It was a great experience travelling with this smart mare and our travelling Groom Michael Nzilane to Cape Town – I’m enjoying being a part of the uber professional Mike de Kock team,” he added.

It is fascinating to see the tough-guy former jockey Johnny G, or the ‘Little Greek’ as some know him, honing his stable management skills – including social media, believe it or not – with the powerful Mike de Kock operation.

A down-to-earth realist, the man who won on Horse Chestnut on debut and rode London News to victory the one time he got on his back, admits that he also boasts the dubious distinction of getting beat on the great filly Spook Express.

He rates Stephen Jupp and Robbie Hill as mentors and role models, and says that he learnt a lot from Gerald Turner as an apprentice. Johnny scored his first feature win in 1992 when Military Muse won the Gr2 Racing Digest 1900 at Greyville for Tony Millard.

Thereafter followed a great career in the saddle.

With over 2000 victories to his name when he called it a day, the ‘Johnny G’ brand was well established locally and in Singapore, Mauritius and Dubai.

The powerful rider completed his apprenticeship under Brian de Villiers and Robbie Sage in 1989, in the same stream as other future top riders in Weichong Marwing and the now Australia-based, Sean Cormack.

Geroudis’ top-level successes in his near 30 years in the saddle include the 1995 Durban July and Daily News with the diminutive Patrick Shaw-trained Teal, the SA Classic with Shaw’s Kundalini, the Derby on Kale, and the 2015 Gr1 Allan Robertson Championship with his present day boss’ charge Entisaar.

His association with Shaw extended to Singapore and the partnership produced wins in most of Singapore’s top races, including the Kranji Mile with Blizz Bless and Palace Line, and the Lion City Cup with Qui Expression. In that era he also won the Ballanchine in Dubai for Mike de Kock on Moon Dazzle.

He enjoyed a terrific association with Gilbert Rousset and was crowned Champion Jockey of Mauritius in 2012. Johnny won the racing-crazy Indian Ocean Island’s top race, the Maiden Cup, three times – including a victory on Disa Leader, which horse he later rode in Dubai for De Kock.

At the time of his retirement, Johnny went on record suggesting that one could never say goodbye to this game.

But he jokingly declared then that his first ‘ambition’ was to ‘aggravate Mike de Kock as much as possible’ – that saga was apparently going to play out on the racecourse and the golf course.

We couldn’t get De Kock to rate the Geroudis aggravation factor on a  scale of 1 to 10, but the energetic long-time Lonehill resident has become a half permanent fixture at Randjesfontein in the mornings, and spends more time observing and assessing the exercise and work than in the work-riding saddle these days.

The versatile Johnny has also become an owner, with horses racing under the De Kock banner, as well as with Jacques Strydom and Duncan McKenzie in PE.

He celebrated his first winner in that capacity in May 2018 at the Vaal when Poormanslady came home lonely under Muzi Yeni.

“It’s definitely easier riding them than owning them. I was sweating like a pig and full of nerves before the race,” he said at the time – that was the same cool as a cucumber Johnny who won the Durban July and has ridden winners around the world, including Singapore and Mauritius.

Happy birthday Johnny!