John Blacker enhanced his chances of notching a fourth Tasmanian trainers’ premiership with a trio of healthy-priced victors at Hobart last Sunday.
He opened his account with ex-Victorian mare Mira Flores, who finished off strongly from midfield under Siggy Carr for a dominant three-length win in the open age maiden plate over 1430 metres.
The daughter of Tough Speed was on a quick four-day back-up, having found the line well to place for the second consecutive time on the Devonport synthetic midweek, and got the cash as a $7 chance at her 16th  attempt.
Blacker’s second win came via promising filly Bellasario, who, despite having been game in the placings at her past four attempts, went around at $16 in the two- and three-year-olds’ maiden plate over 1200 metres.
The daughter of Alpine Eagle looks to have more wins in store as well as she showed a sharp turn of foot to come from worse than midfield on straightening under comeback hoop Hayley McCarthy and score by 1¼ lengths.
The Longford trainer completed his treble with former Chris Waller representative Doonican ($9.50), who took the maiden/Class 1 plate over 1600 metres.
The gelded son of No Nay Never had been finding the line nicely without looking a serious threat at his previous four outings but was helped by a great ride from Troy Baker, who was able to weave a passage through the field to secure a narrow victory.
Blacker’s haul took him to 54 wins for the season, just four wins behind Scott Brunton, who’s won every trainers’ premiership since Blacker’s latest success in the 2007-08 season.
There are just seven local meetings remaining this season and with three of those being at Devonport, where Blacker enjoys a better strike rate than at Hobart and Launceston, he looks a chance to reel in Brunton as the latter has fewer representatives on the synthetic surface than he does on the two turf tracks.
Brunton also tasted success at Hobart, with his progressive mare Ole Ola notching her third win from just eight appearances. She came from just off the pace for an impressive 3¼-length win in the benchmark 64 handicap over 1600 metres under 1.5kg claimer Taylor Johnstone.
The daughter of Adelaide is well related, being out of former classy local mare Genuine Blonde. She’s also thrown Launceston Cup winner Genuine Lad, so Brunton’s charge is likely to be even better as she steps up to staying trips later in her career.