LUKE’S ON ROLL AFTER MOVING TO NSW BASE
ONE of the Gold Coast’s top jockeys has made a low-key move south of the border where it hasn’t taken him long to find success.
Respected hoop Luke Rolls has moved to the NSW town of Port Macquarie with partner and former jockey Cassandra Schmidt and has spent the past few months riding in country races.
Rolls said he made the shift to Schmidt’s home town in order to be closer to her family and it has paid off with the 34-year-old revealing it has brought more winners and financial opportunities.
“Cassandra is from here so we wanted to come home,” Rolls said.
“I’ve started riding a lot more down this way since then. I’m getting a lot more rides and financially it’s probably worked out better.
“It took me a while to get going at the start but once I got on a bit of a roll and rode some winners it really picked up.
“The prizemoney is good down here and the riding fees are worth a little more than Queensland.”
Port Macquarie trainers Neil Godbolt and Marc Quinn are among his key supporters.
Rolls was in contention for the 2017-18 Coast jockeys premiership before Ryan Plumb pulled away. He finished fourth with 21 wins.
The experienced horseman, who has ridden nine winners at the Gold Coast this season, said he would still appear at the track sporadically.