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By Ray Hickson

He’ll never ride a Group 1 winner but that doesn’t matter to leading picnic jockey Leandro Ribeiro.

To him, the picnics are an opportunity to do something he loves even if it is out of the spotlight most riders crave.

Leading picnic jockey Leandro Ribeiro arriving at Marthaguy picnics (Pic: Janian McMillan)

The 41-year-old Brazilian born jockey rode a winner at his first race meeting in Australia, at Nyngan in July 2020, and since then has become such a dominant force you could almost dub him the ‘JMac of picnic racing’.

He’s a record breaker too, in 2022/23 he set a new mark of 54 winners from just 126 rides (almost 43 per cent strike rate) and became the first picnic jockey to win over $300,000 in prizemoney.

Ribeiro says the picnic circuit may be operating in the background compared to what most people think racing is but it’s special in its own way.

“It’s very competitive, everyone out there takes it very seriously and they’re very professional,’’ he said.

“The prizemoney is very good, it’s quite similar to non-TABs now so it’s hard to win picnic races.

“I have a lot of fun at the picnics. I wanted to try riding professionally but I’m a bit heavy, weight was my issue back home too.

“I want to keep riding until I’ve had enough, see how far I can go. I enjoy it, and I’m getting good results.”

His first move away from Brazil took Ribeiro to England, where the opportunities weren’t there for him to ride as much as would have liked, with weight catching up to him as well, and in 2017 he moved to Sydney.

He worked for Godolphin, under James Cummings, for a couple of years and also for the likes of Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott and Gary Portelli.

It was at Warwick Farm where he met his partner Julia Presits, she was an apprentice at the time with Portelli and started off her career riding on the picnic circuit.

Due to visa restrictions Ribeiro couldn’t ride in races but he travelled with her to a number of meetings and you could say his love for the picnics was born.

“I wasn’t allowed to do any race riding to start so I went around with Julia when she was riding at the picnics and really enjoyed it,’’ he said.

“There’s a lot of driving but it is quite fun. You go out to the middle of nowhere and when you’re close to the destination you think there’s no way there could be a racecourse there then all of a sudden it’s like the clouds break.

“The clubs put on a great day, and really look after the riders and the trainers, I think that’s why people really love it.”

Ribeiro is now an Australian citizen and, as mentioned, when he got the go ahead to ride he wasted no time getting into the swing of establishing himself as a leader on the picnic arena while more recently Presits transitioned into training.

Rarely does a meeting go by when he doesn’t ride a winner or take home a Cup, though the recent Marthaguy meeting at Quambone was an exception.

The couple eventually left Sydney and landed in Muswellbrook in early 2024, Presits started training there in July that year and last spring they enjoyed their biggest success together when Avoid Me won the $50,000 Picnic Championship (1400m) at Dubbo.

That mare was identified as being an ideal horse for the Championship and she won three picnic races, including Cups at Tomingley and Wean, on the way to Ribeiro’s third win in the Final.

He’d won the race, run as a TAB event in September, on Inzhagi (2023) and Hemsted (2022) for one of his major supporters in Connie Greig.

Ironically, Greig had nine runners chasing Avoid Me home in last year’s event and she filled second through to eighth place.

Ribeiro did pay Greig back by winning the inaugural $50,000 Picnic Sprint Championship (1000m) on Line Of Law at the same meeting.

They’ve built a powerful partnership, one that was formed when Ribeiro was travelling to those race meetings with Presits. He met the trainer at a Central West meeting one day and mentioned that he was a professional jockey in Brazil and was about to join the picnic ranks.

“Since I moved to Australia I’ve been lucky, things have gone the right way for me and I never thought I’d get this far,’’ he said.

The picnic circuit has allowed Brazilian-born Leandro Ribeiro the chance to continue a passion for riding. (Pic: Janian McMillan)

“I’ve had a very good run since I started but I have good support. Connie Grieg helped me by giving me rides at my first meeting and I started to get wins straight away.

“She’s been very good and we’ve been very lucky, we’ve been getting so many good results over the years.

“A lot of trainers give me good rides and it’s great to have their support.”

His picnic exploits only occupy his time on the weekend, when he jumps in the car to the next destination, otherwise he’s assisting Presits’ training and runs the couple’s education and pre-training business.

“It’s a lot of work but that’s the way to pay the bills,’’ he said.

“I’ve been to most of the picnic tracks since I’ve been riding on the picnic circuit, there are some rough ones but some very good ones too.

“I love becoming an Australian, I love riding winners and now we have our own property and our own business.”

In a whirlwind six years Ribeiro has already won many of the picnic Cups around NSW but there is one that has so far eluded him and he’ll have to wait until November for another shot at it.

The race in question is the Bong Bong Picnic Cup, he’s finished second a couple of times, it’s something of a holy grail to him and a lot of racing participants – not just those who follow the picnic circuit.

“Everyone loves this meeting, it’s very popular, and to me it’s very special,’’ he said.

“They get a great crowd and everyone likes to ride a winner at the Bong Bong meeting.”

*This article originally appeared in the June 2026 edition of the Racing NSW magazine

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