TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1008281
harmonises. It should have a rhythm and a facili- ty that makes it look easy. That is something one strives for, creatively: to make it look as though anyone can do it. Maybe that's why Picasso did those things." And if Blacker was never quite Francome, there is plainly an authentic gene of horsemanship in operation: his late father—General Sir Cecil 'Mon- key' Blacker, a cherished elder statesman at the Jockey Club—was an international showjumper and his son Dan, recently profiled in the TDN, is training in California. There is much else floating around the ped- igree, to be fair: his father and grandfather, for instance, both won the Military Cross. If anything, Blacker suspects he developed a slight aversion to authority with his military upbringing, or "a slight determination to go my own way, and not ever be in a position where I'd be ordered around." True, his work requires a discipline of its own. But if his core market has become more competi- tive over the years, even that has brought its own stimulation. "I think the fact that the market has got tougher has helped," he says. "Much more so than when I was 35 or 40, I'm prepared to take more chances now. I feel more creative now than I ever have in my life."