Luke has career to diet for

PAST Bletchingly Stakes winner Ready To Rip is not only a valued family member, he has the mindset jockey Luke Nolen has adopted.

Fed-up watching others “riding my horses”, the trimmed down and reinvigorated Nolen has sharpened his diet and exercise routine to ride at 55kg, a shade lighter ideally, in the build-up to spring and beyond.

He has four rides at Caulfield, three for Peter Moody, including Oxley Road in the Bletchingly Stakes.

They combined to win the 1200m Group 3 in 2011 and 2012 with Mid Summer Music and Ready To Rip.

“The idea this year (next season) is I’m actually going to have a proper go,” Nolen said.

“I’m sick of other people riding my horses. I’m working them all so might as well ride them (at races).

“I’m in a good rhythm (weight). It got away from me a bit and I probably didn’t work hard enough.

“I’m working too many nice horses, both Hayes’s and Moody’s camps, and not riding them at the moment.”

Nolen will take six weeks off after Saturday to unwind and recharge before launching into spring.

Riding work and winning primarily for Moody and Lindsay Park trainers Ben and JD Hayes this past season has fuelled Nolen’s ambitions.

“You need a bit of luck to fall your way,” Nolen said. “The harder you work the luckier you get, and the lighter you ride the more opportunities you get.

“The day you don’t go out there and compete is the day you get hurt. I’m competing so I might as well be trying to compete at the highest level and give myself every opportunity. That’s the idea.

“Shave a bit of my bucket arse off and make myself available. Riding 55kg opens up a whole lot more doors and that’s the idea. I’m getting closer to the end than the start, so make hay.”