One of world's oldest jockeys announces retirement after riding 1,700 winners over 55 years

One of the world’s oldest jockeys is hanging up his saddle after 55 years of riding winners.

At the age of 71, Keith Ballard is the oldest active jockey in who is based at Mount Isa, one of Queensland’s bush racetracks.

He has piloted over 1,700 winners but the grandfather, whose wife Denise is a trainer. has now announced he will give up the job for good in November.

“Denise said to me at one stage that if I keep going then I may have a fall which would lead me to not have the quality of life that I have now,” he told

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“She said to me that I have done my time and I have almost retired a few times before.

“We have been short of jockeys up here the last few years so I was happy to keep riding.

“I was looking at it like community service, helping fill in a gap for Denise and Tanya Parry’s horses when they were short a rider.”

Retirement was first broached when Ballard reached 50 but he kept on for another two decades. He was inducted into the Queensland Racing Hall of Fame in 2021.

He rode 15 winners last season and has one victory to his name in the 2024-25 campaign, but will stop after riding at Julia Creek on November 16.

Ballard has held the mantle of being the oldest active jockey in Australia since Western Australian jockey Danny Miller called time on his career in the saddle at 70 in 2018.

He has won a number regional Cup races across his tenure, capturing the signature race in towns such as Birdsville, Boulia, Cloncurry, Julia Creek, Richmond, McKinlay, Maxwelton, Mount Isa, Stamford, Corfield, Longreach and Winton, among others.

He headed across the border to nab a Darwin Cup victory aboard the Mount Isa-trained Kerr Street in 1983 while he also claimed a Cleveland Bay triumph in Townsville.

He retires without a city victory to his name, which is something he says he wished he had achieved earlier in his career.

“I am happy with what I have done,” he said. “It is a great industry and it has been good to me.