KEY POINTS:
Richard Coxon had one of his biggest weekends in racing and came away with two problems.
Coxon won the $34,000 Peter Colwill Thames Cup with his evergreen Desert Flight and daughter Nikita won the raceday's Fashion In The Field.
Richard Coxon arrived home wondering what to do with the pair of them.
Desert Flight is weighting himself out of races and Coxon is desperate to talk his daughter out of becoming an apprentice jockey.
Neither issue completely dampened the celebrations, but you get the impression the daughter's predicament will be well chewed over.
After winning the fashion stakes, Nikita Coxon, full of adrenalin, declared her desire to extend her horse riding into the professional ranks.
"We're hoping it's a passing phase," said her father.
Nikita Coxon has helped Lance O'Sullivan around the stable in school holidays and her height will possibly be an issue in racing.
Richard Coxon, a Matamata dairy farmer and horse trainer, says he has a few weeks to convince his daughter to go back to school this year.
"Nikita is keen on modelling, that's a good option."
Desert Flight carried 58kg topweight to victory on Saturday and is getting to a prohibitive level in the handicaps.
Two starts back he gave weight to the likes of talented So You and Willy Smith and wining on Saturday means things can only get worse.
"If the Marton Cup had been a week later instead of next week we'd have looked at that because it's probably a suitable type of field for him, but looking at him this morning I wouldn't be keen to back him up that quickly.
"He's better when he's a little on the fresh side.
"There is a $29,000 open handicap at Avondale in two weeks. He'll get plenty of weight, but a lot of the better horses will be down at Wellington."
Beyond that there is a chance Desert Flight may tackle the group one 2000m weight-for-age International at Te Rapa next month, simply because there are few alternative options.
Rider Matt Cameron was sure runner-up Authoress would have run straight past Desert Flight if she hadn't thrown her head in the air three or four strides from the finish.
But getting to Desert Flight is one thing, getting past is another.
"Because he's got the blinkers on he doesn't see them until they're alongside," says Coxon. "Buddy [Lammas] wasn't worried, he said he was happy with the way the horse was humming down the home straight."
If Authoress had got her head beyond Desert Flight's it would have been because the old bloke hadn't seen her in time to fight back.
The 4kg trainer Jim Gibbs tore off Volscar's back via Samantha Collett proved valuable in the $20,000 Woodstock Bourbon Sprint.
Volscar hadn't enjoyed the best of luck going into the event, and tearing around the tight Thames circuit with little weight on his back proved the winning of the race.
Gibbs has a decent opinion of Volscar, whom he expects to continue improving.
Pre-race trainer Ann Herbert said Tatlock had to win and win well to justify a run in the $200,000 Telegraph at Trentham and it was difficult to mark him too hard on being beaten half a length.
Tatlock had to drag back to avoid being caught three wide outside Volscar and Ringadingding, which meant he had to go three widths off the rail to make his run around the home turn. He didn't make the home bend as well as the winner and got balanced only in the final 150m, finishing well.
Pinsoir is another who did not disgrace himself, finishing on well for a handy fourth and looking as though he would be better suited on a roomier track.
