A native of Melbourne, Geoff Lane became apprenticed to Tommy Woodcock at Mentone in 1953. He was five times champion apprentice and in 1959/60, the year he completed his indentures, he won the senior Melbourne jockeys’ premiership.

In a brief career, the length of which was seriously curtailed by weight problems, Lane was associated with many fine horses, riding more than 400 winners as an apprentice and capturing some 76 feature races. His big race wins included three Victoria Derbies, three VRC Oaks and three VRC St Legers, the AJC Oaks, the Caulfield Guineas, three Caulfield Stakes, two Toorak Handicaps, the Futurity Stakes, four Memsie Stakes and four St George Stakes, two Sandown Cups and a Williamstown Cup, four Alister Clark Stakes, two William Reid Stakes and the W.S. Cox Plate. Outstanding horses with which he was associated included Lord, which he rode to 17 wins, and Dhaulagiri, which he rode to 13 wins, headline by the 1961 W.S.Cox Plate, and to placings in the Melbourne, Caulfield, Sydney and Brisbane Cups.

Rising weight and constant dieting caused Lane to announce his retirement in 1964 at the age of 25. Three years later he made a successful comeback, but weight problems again forced his retirement in 1971. He then moved to Hong Kong where a higher weight scale allowed him to continue riding with much success during the next decade. On retirement, he took up an administrative position with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and later became a trainer.

Geoff Lane was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2013. 

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