From golf to trotters and rock stars – Young breeder - Nick Coxon

For a thirty year old, Nick Coxon has packed in a fair bit.

The Palmerston North, born Hamilton Boy’s High educated Coxon represented New Zealand in the 2013 Australian Youth Golf Olympic Festival in Sydney. He’s won numerous amateur golf events and he turned professional in 2018.

After touring American as a pro, Nick now mixes golf with caddying at Tara Iti Golf Club at Mangawhai and manages to fit in a touch of harness racing.

“It’s taking their bags and guiding them round if they’ve never been there before. The pro golf is on the side and I spend all the money on the horses,” he says.

The most famous client Coxon has caddied for is rock star Alice Cooper.

“He was quite a hard case and probably an eight or nine handicapper. He was a good chat to be fair, a wee bit deaf but that’s to be expected. He was a nice guy actually. I just play on the New Zealand Tour these days. It keeps me busy enough and helping out with the horses now and then. I give Sean McCaffery a hand when I can and Flash (great uncle Donald ‘Flash’ Cossey) still trains one or two. I worked for Sean for a few years in between playing golf.”

Nick has now been involved in harness racing for ten years.

“I was playing a bit of professional golf in the States and when I came home I went out and lived with Flash. He had nine or ten older horses or broodmares on his property and that struck my interest. We ended up leasing a couple of horses and he began training again. I started off that way as a stable hand.”

The pair leased Kiri, a Bettor’s Delight mare off Woodlands Stud. She provided Coxon with his first drive at the workouts in October 2020, but her six race day starts didn’t earn a cheque.

“We also leased Highview Rockn Roll at a similar time. She was a pacing bred mare that ended up trotting and winning thirteen races for us. We’ve just recently retired her. She gave us a bit of fun over the five or six years we raced her.”

Highview Rockn Roll was served by Oscar Bonavena last spring but never got in foal. However she’s heading back to him in the new breeding season.

“She’s got a bit of money in that breeding credit scheme so that was a big part of getting her in foal at least once anyway. Oscar fits in that $3,000 range pretty nicely and he was one of my favourites watching him with his brilliant speed. It would be cool if we could get one of those. Ideally we like to race them with Flash able to train them from Luk’s (Chin) property.”

Coxon is also breeding from Savitskaya, a Monarchy mare which won three races and is out of Barsukova who at stud has left Mazeppa (13), Tereskova (9) and Barsukov (8).

He has an On A Streak colt out of the mare.

“He looks quite nice. We’re waiting on him to grow up a bit and hoping he’ll turn out alright. His mother had a little bit of speed. She was one I used to drive when I worked for Sean. We thought she might leave a nice foal one day. Her first foal (Dimitrov – Creatine) is quite a nice type who’s taken a bit of time to get going.”

Coxon doesn’t go too deep into pedigree and researching, but likes to read about and look at first season stallions.

“I enjoy studying the stallions when they come over and the new ones you see in the books each year. Luk’s mares have got good credentials and a lot of his mares have left plenty of winners. I did a little bit of study and On A Streak seemed like a reasonably commercial sire.”

Coxon bought Captain Dreamboat – a Captain Crunch son of Time To Dream, an unraced Bettor’s Delight daughter of Western Dream, at this years NZB Standardbred Yearling Sales in Auckland. Tony Herlihy trained Western Dream to win fourteen races including the Nevele R Fillies Series Final and New Zealand Oaks double.

“My girlfriend (Roisin Mooney) liked him at the Sales, so we bought him with a few other friends who were keen to get in. Tony is training that one.”

He also has shares in Hillbilly (What The Hill) and Luca (Carlton).

Luca was sent north from Greg and Ben Hopes for McCaffrey to train before Cossey and Coxon took him on.

Promising trotter Hillbilly has won six of his twenty-eight starts. He’s out of Dutch Annie, making him a half to Yagunnakissmeornot, the winner of seventeen.

“He’s showing his worth now. He’s strengthened up a bit and we’re having a bit of luck with him.”

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink