Hameildaeme gave trainer Dan Blacker his first win as a trainer
Every rookie trainer wants to get that first win out of the way and step into that comfort zone to start off the building process with a solid foundation, and sometimes it comes early and other times it just makes you wait and make the whole process all the more agonizing to an extent that a switch to another profession becomes a real possibility or sometimes the only option.
However, trainer Dan Blacker kept his fingers crossed after having saddled three runners since starting off his career as a full fledge trainer on 11 November, 2011, but on his fourth, his fledgling career got a real boost when 5-year-old mare, Hameildaeme, under jockey Victor Espinoza turned up for a mile event on turf for $250,000-$22,000 claimers.
The Great Britain bred daughter of Storming Home, out of mare Sweet Cando by Royal Applause, Hameildaeme was coming off a fifth place finish in a claimers event on turf over at 1 1/16 miles on 3 December, 2011, to winner Farley Star at Hollywood Park.
On 18 December, in the fourth race of the day at the Inglewood Oval, Hameildaeme won the mile event and gave trainer Dan Blacker his first win in fourth start by a head over five older fillies and mares.
Dan Blacker is the former assistant to Tom Albertrani, and the rookie trainer gave his partners Jim Ford, Richard Ansede, Mark Nichols, Phil Dion, and Robert and Wan Maycock the victory.
“I’m hitting at 25% right now,” Blacker said with a grin. “It’s great to get the win right off the mark; that’s what you want to do early on in your training career. I owe it all to Jamie Lloyd (Hameildaeme’s previous trainer), and the owners who gave me a shot and put their horses with me.”
Dan Blacker, who is 29, was a trainee of Richard Mandella at West Coast, but soon after his time with Mandella, Blacker went to the East Coast and spent two and a half years with Tom Albertrani and now he has moved back to California in September to start off his own training business.
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