by Chris Lomon

Whenever the pacers and trotters step onto the track, each one is a mirror image of the resilient, hopeful, and hard-working horsewoman who proudly watches over them.

The result of the fifth race at Ocean Downs on July 3 might just be the perfect example of what an Amanda Blackford trainee is.

R Hot Toddy, a well-travelled bay trotter, has encountered his share of highs and lows, along with every in between, over his time on the racetrack.

Win streaks, losing streaks, open-length victories, tough losses – the son of Muscle Mass has experienced it all.

On that early July evening in Maryland, R Hot Toddy found a way to come out on top against his six rivals, finding the wire a neck in front of the 3-5 favorite.

“He persevered in a tough moment,” Blackford said.

Just like his trainer.

“We all go through tough moments in our lives or in our careers, but you always find a way to rise above those challenges and carry on,” she said.

Blackford would come to know that later in life.

Born in Port St. Lucie, FL, she had an early connection with horses, one that came through familial ties.

“My grandfather was big into the business, and he was the one who got me into it when I was a little girl,” she said. “He would do the fairs in upstate New York, and I would go and help him with the horses.”

In 2017, at the age of 15, Blackford attended the Harness Horse Youth Foundation Camp, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association, at Pocono Downs.

A highlight came in the final of the day’s three racing exhibitions when she drove her horse to victory accompanied by professional driver Jim Marohn, Jr.

Blackford went on to work in a few barns in the eastern U.S. before making a career move outside of the industry.

“I have been around horses my whole life and I worked for a few guys before I went to work at a hardware store,” Blackford said. “There were both good and bad experiences in racing, but I wanted to change things up a little bit, so I tried something else.”

In her spare time, Blackford was at the racetrack, specifically, Ocean Downs, where she could maintain her connection to the horses.

“I was doing catch-paddocking for a few people, and I ended up doing one for Gary Crescenze of Northern Creek Farms,” she said.

Little did Blackford know then that it would lead her back to the racing world.

She considered a job offer from Crescenze and his wife Tammy that night, but politely turned it down.

“He told me that if I was looking for a job, he was always looking for help,” Blackford said. “At that time, I told him probably not because I had just received a promotion.”

Two months later, Blackford, during one of her shifts at the hardware store, picked up the phone.

“One day, I just realized, ‘This is not me at all,’” she said. “I called Gary and said, ‘About that job…’ I knew I had to leave and go back to the horses.”

And so, she did, in the midst of personal turmoil and tragedy.

Just over a year ago, Blackford’s mother passed away after a long illness.

The two, who had lived in Florida, moved to Maryland where they moved in with Blackford’s grandfather, Robert Smith, his wife Valerie, and her aunt and uncle, Stephanie and Lou DuBrel.

Blackford, who had moved out of the home in 2023, was given the news that a fire had burned it down. Three dogs and seven cats died in the blaze, and the DuBrels lost all their possessions.

“It was a tough time, not only for me, but for so many others,” she said.

Through it all, the young horsewoman drew strength from familiar faces.

“The last couple years, my family and Gary and Tammy, who are like a second family to me, have supported me,” Blackford said. “My boyfriend, Austin, isn’t big into racing, but he has come to like it.”

In the times when she felt at a loss for words, it was the horses who spoke to her.

“Regardless of the day you have, at the end of it, the horses give you that consistency,” she said. “They will always be there for you. They don’t judge, they don’t get affected by any of the noise – they need you to take care of them. They are a foundation for me.”

Blackford, who sent out four starters in 2022, won three races, including her first as a trainer, the following year.

The milestone score came on Jan. 26 with the pacer John Mac.

In rein to Russell Foster, the chestnut gelding was the 4-1 third choice in the race with a $7,500 purse.

“John Mac wasn’t a killer by any means, but we were happy to have him in our barn,” said Blackford. “We only had that one win with him, but he picked up checks.

“He was what he was, but that night — he had the 7-hole — he just blasted out of there and raced the first quarter in :26 and a piece. I remember seeing that first quarter and saying, ‘Oh, man. This isn’t going to end well.’”

But it would.

“He held on that day at Rosecroft,” she said. “I was grinning from ear-to-ear going to the winner’s circle. I rode that high for a couple of days. I didn’t lose that feeling for a while.”

Blackford has enjoyed a fruitful 2024, a year in which she has already eclipsed numerous notable personal-best marks.

Just like the start of her first training win, the year didn’t begin in grand fashion.

“Earlier on, we had three or four horses in our barn when we thought we would have seven racing,” she said. “They were training well, jogging well and come race time, they were dropping like flies. We got scared there for a little bit. We thought we were headed for a pretty bad year.”

Blackford is happy to have been wrong in her assessment.

“Definitely,” she said. “Things have been great this season so far.”

Currently, she has five horses in her care, a group that includes trotter R Hot Toddy.

“R Hot Toddy has done so well,” she said, of the 5-year-old bay owned by Gary Crescenze and his wife Tammy. “He came down from Canada. He didn’t race at 2 and raced a little bit at 3. We got him last year at 4. He is a big, strong, good-looking trotter. It wasn’t one thing that helped him, he just learned how to trot. He grinds it out every week and tries. It’s nice to send him out there. You know he will give everything he has even if he doesn’t pick up a check.”

Exactly like the woman who unabashedly dotes on her horses, at the racetrack or at home.

When she is tending to her handful of standardbreds, she can be found astride one of her riding horses or spending time with her four dogs.

Wherever Blackford happens to find herself, she is reminded that her life and career, despite all its unknowns, are in a very good place.

Yes, bad days included.

“In the short-term for my training, it’s continuing to work with these horses,” she said. “We are ready to bring another one down from Canada. I have learned a lot about patience this year, which has helped me so much.

“Long term, if there was ever a time where I had my own big stable, I would love, more than anything, to break babies. I adore the older horses, but the idea of breaking babies and teaching them how to do it all is something I would love.”

And whether it happens to be her current stable or those to come down the line, each horse will, at some point, take on the character of their trainer.

“We just want to keep them healthy, happy and competitive,” said Blackford. “They work hard, so it is always nice when you give them some time off at some point to enjoy life.”

Those moments will surely come later in the year for Blackford.

And when they do, the resilient horsewoman can reflect on the not-so-easy path that led her back to the industry she has long admired.

“You can’t walk away from it,” she said. “But that isn’t a bad thing. Actually, it’s a wonderful thing.”