The son of trainer Jane Clement, Nock has let his riding do the talking from a young age growing up in Bendemeer, near Tamworth. His passion for rodeo took him to the international stage on the Professional Bull Riders circuit and delayed his move to race riding, but now Nock appears here to stay in the Sydney jockey ranks.
“It wasn’t originally the goal,” he said of winning the apprentice title. “It sort of happened when I was having pretty good success while I was with Peter. I went home really not thinking much of it.
Braith Nock takes It’s A Knockout to a dominant win at Randwick on June 21.Credit: Getty Images
“I had the momentum built up, I was in striking distance, so I thought I’d give it a go. It’s always good to win something like that as an apprentice.
“I dare say towards the end of the season I’ll take a week or two off, then build the momentum back up. I’ve got the connections to then hopefully get straight back into it.”
Nock passed up opportunities to stay in Sydney after his loan stint, and he is keen to remain in Scone, a three-hour drive from Sydney, with trainer Brett Cavanough.
“I think at this point I’ll stay in Scone, I kind of like the style of living there,” he said.
“It’s definitely a lot of travelling, but when I have a couple of days of racing around the same area, I stay down here. Brett is pretty versatile with all of that sort of stuff.”
Down to only a two-kilogram claim in town, Nock knows defending his title next season will be a challenge, but he is up for it.
“It would be a good thing,” he said. “But it’s going to be tougher. It’s always hard to run down a three-kilo claimer.”
Ben, Will and JD Hayes are using Nock’s claim with Katsu ($4.60 Sportsbet), which will still have to cart a massive 64 kilograms in the seventh, a 1000m benchmark 78 handicap. A five-time winner for Grahame Begg, the five-year-old was second on debut for the Hayes brothers at Sandown over 1000m on June 14. It will be Nock’s first ride for the famous Lindsay Park stable.
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“It’s only ever won over 1000 and, like [trainer] Joe Pride says, the weight doesn’t seem to really matter unless it’s over 1400,” Nock said. “So just as long as they go quick, which over a 1000 they generally do.”
Maher provides perhaps Nock’s best two chances on the program, in four-year-old mares Piggyback and It’s A Knockout. Nock took Piggyback to a midweek win first-up, but they have since been third twice in Saturday 78 grade. It’s A Knockout cruised to a four-length victory last start for Nock at Randwick. Piggyback was $4.20 in the fifth from gate 10, while It’s A Knockout was $3.20 from three in the ninth.
“She just needs a little bit of tempo,” he said of Piggyback. “She’s been a bit unlucky in slowly run races and getting a little tight for runs.
“It’s A Knockout was quite impressive. It’s only got to run up to that, and I’m sure she will take improvement off the first-up run.”
Baker-trained Regimental Colours ($9) in the fourth and the Archibalds’ Don’t Forget Jack ($6) in the eighth are other strong chances Nock has winning form on.
