Stevie chasing gold in the west

Avid Victorian owner-driver Stevie Blacker just loves his harness racing and his horses, and he admits he had a tear in his eye when a float came to pick up one of his favorites last month.

The pacer Silent Major is known around the stables as "Hannibal" (his stable nickname comes from the film Silence of the Lambs) but the move west is shaping up as anything but a horror story.

"He's a ripper of a horse, just an absolute perfect animal," Blacker said.

"He's still a stallion, but you wouldn't know it as he doesn't kick out or carry on. He's just beautiful," he said.

"I was tossing up whether to send 'Hannibal' up to Sydney or over to the west-it ended up being the latter because of all the uncertainty with NSW. It was definitely a funny feeling to see him go off on his long road trip."

Silent Major (Art Major-Hi Life Franco (Falcon Seelster) is a six times winner and will compete in the $200,000 Retravision 4YO Group One Golden Nugget pace at Gloucester Park tonight.

Silent Major and Aaron Dunn after their Melton win last year

Blacker is from Mortlake but divides his time between there and Horsham where he assists his great mate and in-form trainer Aaron Dunn with his big team.

"It would be great to be over there in Perth. But it's not about me, it's about the horse," Blacker said.

"The Golden Nugget carries the most stakemoney I've ever had a horse run around in. It's a great field and we're coming off the back row, but we've made it!" he said.

"Gary Hall senior who is training him is quite happy. He's had him for a bit over a month. He was pretty much cherry ripe when he left because we'd been racing him at Melton."

Silent Major raced at Pinjarra on January 18 and didn't sneak under the guard of punters. The four-year-old started $1.10 favorite and won nicely for Hall junior, posting his best winning mile rate in the process with a time of 1.56-6.

"He had to chase a bit in that race, and it was over 2185 metres, so we were all smiling," Blacker said.

"There's a few more ideal races coming up for him over there so he can stay there for the time. We'll get him home at some stage and give him a break before looking at the sires races back here toward the end of the year.

"I was itching to do a Queensland trip with him during the Winter carnival, but that went pear shaped with all the uncertainty regarding COVID and border closures, but I suppose it was actually quite incredible that we managed to keep racing at all right through that time."

Silent Major is one of a more than a dozen horses owned by the enthusiastic Blacker.

"I bought Silent Major and Philadelphia Freedom from New Zealand in a package deal and they've now won five each. I haven't bought any new ones for six months or so – I need a few to get going!" he laughed.

"I've known Darrell Kidd, from Global Bloodstock for a long time, and I've been really happy for what he's done for me."

Terry Gange

NewsAlert PR Mildura