Stephen Blacker freely admits that he's been in a pretty bad place at times in his life, but harness racing has played a significant role in getting him through.
"I've suffered a lot of mental health issues that's for sure, with depression and anxiety, but the horses are a great outlet," Blacker said.
"My involvement with them probably goes back 15 to 20 years ago when I always had at least one with some great horsemen in Kevin Brough and Bob Mahanke," he said.
"Then in later years I've worked for Mattie Craven and more recently, Aaron Dunn, at Horsham, where I've been for the past 16 months."
And Blacker is certainly and deservedly enjoying success as an owner, after all, in his own words, "a few things have changed in my life".
In a landmark civil case in February 2018, Blacker sued the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat and two former bishops for negligence, alleging as a nine-year-old he had been raped in the small Victorian town of Mortlake.
The Diocese of Ballarat eventually admitted it was aware a prolific child abuser had been abusing children as far back as 1975 and the church was forced to pay Blacker an undisclosed amount in a landmark settlement.
Father Gerald Ridsdale is in prison after being convicted of multiple counts of sexual abuse of 65 children over 40 years.
Although his legal fight is over, Blacker now supports other victims who are taking matters to the courts.
But he is also now looking to his own future and planning to step up his active involvement in the sport he loves.
He's shown over the years that he's more than a competent judge of quality when it comes to selecting both pacers and trotters to buy, and at the latest Terang meeting, Blacker cheered home three of his horses to victory.
He combined with Dunn in getting a double with pacers Silent Major (Art Major-Hi Life Franco (Falcon Seelster) and Philadelphia Freedom (Art Major-Putting On The Glitz (Walton Hanover).
His other winner was square gaiter The Summer Cat (Angus Hall-Flash And Flair (S J's Photo), which he races in partnership with trainer Michael Gadsden. And it could have easily been a Blacker "fab four" with his Maorishadow going down by a neck to Deltasun in the $12,000 Trotters Handicap.
"I used to watch the New Zealand horses intently and then made a good friendship with well-known Sydney horse dealer Darrell 'dasher' Kidd. I first of all got a cheap one off him 10 to 15 years ago," Blacker said.
"I'd never actually met him in person, but a few years ago I bumped into him by chance overseas. I was getting a suit made up and there was another guy doing the same.
"He came up to me and said: 'You're an Aussie, which part do you come from?' And after we got talking he introduced himself-and I finally got to meet Darrell face-to-face!
"Generally speaking I buy Kiwi horses that are coming out of a good yard. Mark Jones is always a seller and I got Silent Major, as well as Philadelphia Freedom, a horse that is lovely to do anything with, both from him."
As youngsters, Aaron Dunn and Steve Blacker played junior football in the same team-Caramut, a small rural township in Western Victoria, near Warrnambool
"I realize it might be a bit hard to visualize now, but I was our ruckman and Steve was the rover," Dunn said.
"After our football days, we probably didn't catch up for over 15 years, but I talked him into working for us in December, 2018. He'd come over for three days a week, then one day he told me he'd be here bright and early on a Monday-he did that, and he's been here ever since."
Blacker sends his pacers to Dunn to be trained, while the trotters go to Michael Gadsden and his partner Denbeigh Wade, who are based at Ararat.
"Aaron reminds us that he has a five-from-five strike rate with first starters from NZ, but he hasn't won a Group Two race yet, which Michael achieved with Maorishadow!" Blacker said.
Blacker said from a mental health point of view, the continuation of harness racing during the COVID-19 pandemic had been fantastic for him.
"Usually I umpire football matches in winter and then play cricket in summer. With no football, I could have been at a loose end if it wasn't for the horses," he said.
"I've also put the time to good use in ramping up my trial drives because one day I'd love to be driving in races. That's my next aim anyway."
The Dunn stable has been enjoying its best-ever season with 29 wins and 33 placings, finishing in the top three nearly 50 percent of the time.
"We decided to give it a real crack awhile back. We've done improvements at our training complex and the horses love the spacious 1350m track," Dunn said.
"I've always prided myself on consistency and with a nice team we're able to do that. There's 14, including five owned by Steve, and in addition four unraced two-year-olds. We also operate Dunn-Ezy mobile seed cleaning and grading service, so we are pretty busy at times."
Terry Gange
NewsAlert PR Mildura