Nock, Knock, who's there?
Just over six months ago, the Scone-based rider headed to Sydney on a three-month loan to trainer Peter Snowden with little more than a desire to improve his riding.
The stint proved so successful that he readjusted his goals and set his sights on claiming the Sydney junior riders' crown, a title he has now sewn up with three weeks of the 2024-25 season still remaining.
A double at Canterbury on July 9 took Nock to 38 metropolitan wins this term, 14 clear of nearest rival Molly Bourke, catapulting him into ninth place on the Sydney jockeys' premiership.
The moustachioed rider has booted home 109 winners state-wide, second only to Aaron Bullock (114) and still a rough chance of capturing New South Wales riding honours.
Such accolades did, however, look a remote possibility at one point of his life when he took a slightly different career path, despite boasting a racing pedigree.
The son of former jockey Greg Nock and Tamworth trainer Jane Clement was a natural rider from young, but at first channelled his skills into bull-riding.
After a relatively successful career in that area - including a Top 10 ranking in the professional league and stints in America and Canada - he was eventually lured to the more lucrative bigger cousin that is horse racing in 2022, joining leading Scone trainer Brett Cavanough as his apprentice.
The switch to Snowden has opened doors to the "Big Smoke" from the leading Sydney trainers, which will be the case at Randwick on July 12.
Two scratchings have reduced his full book to eight, but he will still be sporting silks for the likes of Ciaron Maher, Annabel and Rob Archibald, and Bjorn Baker.
Nock, who had his first Group 1 ride in the Sydney Cup (3,200m) in April and finished fourth on Mostly Cloudy, admitted he sometimes had to pinch himself.
"It has been a little bit surreal," said Nock.
"But it's good to get the opportunities and make the most of them."
His four rides for the powerful Maher operation include It's A Knockout in the A$160,000 (S$134,000) TAB Handicap (1,400m) at 2pm Singapore time. Nock is confident the Dundeel mare can go on with the job after he partnered her to a dominant win at the same course and distance on June 21.
"She has only got to run up to that and I'm sure she is going to take improvement off the first-up run. She really came up underneath me that day," he said.
Nock could have actually extended his tally with another bright chance in distance specialist Katsu for the Hayes' Lindsay Park in The Agency Real Estate Handicap (1,000m), but the five-time winner over the journey was one of his two scratchings.
Despite his current rich vein of form and the rigours of traversing the state from Scone, Nock is not planning a permanent move to Sydney just yet.
He enjoys the quieter lifestyle the Hunter Valley offers and is content to put in the hard yards.
"There is definitely lots of travelling but if there are a couple of days of racing in the same area, I try to stay down so I'm not back and forth so much," he said.
"I dare say at the end of the season I might take a week or two off.
"I know I have a bit of momentum but hopefully I've got the connections to help me get straight back into it." SKY RACING WORLD
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