Plucky Nolen back in the saddle and hopes tide will turn out west

BLACK Caviar's jockey Luke Nolen is heading to Perth with Plucky Belle, desperate to turn around a torrid four months.

Medical staff attend to Luke Nolen after he was thrown from Bullpit before the first race at Caulfield last weekend. Picture: Ge

LUKE Nolen knows the wheel of fortune will turn his way again.

The past four months have been tough with a lack of winners topped by a fall in the mounting yard last Saturday that injured a knee and put him out of action.

"The tide will turn, and hopefully very quickly," Nolen said as he set about physiotherapy in a bid to fly to Perth on Saturday morning to ride Moment Of Change in the Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes and Plucky Belle in the Group 1 Railway Stakes.

Luke Nolen guides Plucky Belle to victory on Melbourne Cup day at Flemington. Picture: Mark Dadswell

"I've been through worse that this and then enjoyed five fabulous years," Nolen said. "I know you just have to work hard and I am as keen as ever so there is no reason why the good times won't roll again."

Nolen has no trouble recalling his last major crisis as a jockey.

He was making a name for himself, winning his first Group 1 on Wonderful World for Bart Cummings in the 2006, marrying Alicia and then winning the 2007 Cox Plate on the Colin Little-trained El Segundo.

Then came an horrific fall from Antidotes in the last 200m of the BTC Sprint at Doomben on May 17, 2008. In the blink of an eye, everything changed.

Jockey Luke Nolen with his wife Alicia in 2008 at Brisbane's St Andrew's Hospital with his horrific facial injuries. Picture: Annette Dew

But Nolen rebounded and combined with trainer Peter Moody to form the most lethal combination in Australian racing history.

They celebrated 600 winners together in July last year, about 100 more than the previous best combination of Lee Freedman and Damien Oliver.

Along the way Nolen won three consecutive Victorian jockey titles, as well as the coveted Scobie Breasley Medal. And he had the life-changing experience of partnering the world's greatest sprinter, Black Caviar, to 22 of her 25 consecutive career wins, including international success at Ascot.

Luke Nolen and Peter Moody have combined for more than 600 winners, but have found times tough of late. Picture: Jay Town

Just when the Moody-Nolen train seemed unstoppable, the wheels fell off. A barn full of Group winners retired and both trainer and jockey were left to replenish the stocks with potential quality replacements.

Nolen has ridden only six city winners this season (from August 1) from 133 rides. His strike rate is a dismal 4.51. Worse, he and Moody have not struck with the same force as in past years.

He missed the winning ride on Floria in the last race on Saturday because of the fall. His past three Group wins for Moody are Plucky Belle in the Group 3 Lavazza Long Black at Flemington during the carnival, Lights Of Heaven in the Group 3 Hollindale Cup at the Gold Coast on May 4 and Black Caviar in the TJ Smith at Randwick way back on April 13.

Medical staff attend to Luke Nolen after he was thrown from Bullpit before the first race at Caulfield last weekend. Picture: Getty Images

"It doesn't bother me. Every jockey and every trainer has good times and lean times. It is part of the game and you must live with it," Nolen said.

"The way I look at it is I had a good time and then a really bad time (the Brisbane fall) followed by some of the great times of my career. This current down period just makes you appreciate those good times, and to want them back as soon as possible," he said.

Nolen escaped structural damage in Saturday's mounting yard mishap. "It is bone bruising and I'm having physiotherapy to make sure I'm ready to ride in Perth. I'll ride trackwork on Thursday and Friday and fly to Perth on Saturday morning," he said.