Wagga trainer Paul Kahlefeldt had a New Year's Eve to remember at Albury on Thursday night, with a winning double bringing up 500 career victories.
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It was a special moment for the Redbank Lodge team, with Paul's son Jared in the driver's seat for the milestone in a career that began back in 1985, a year before Jared was even born.
"It's taken a fair while to get there and it's something you wouldn't think about back in those days but I finally got here," Paul said.
"We've been sitting in the 490s for a while, and got contacted to say 'you're getting pretty close'.
"But the last couple seemed to take forever. The last winner before these two was back in October at West Wyalong.
"It was a bit of a drought on, that's for sure."
Isntthatright ($2.30f) got the party started in the second event at Albury, but only just, with a great drive through traffic from the back of the field to snatch victory by a head from Chris Watson's Sports Bounty.
Two races later, The Ideal Dancer ($3.60) was also in a heart-stopping finish, coming down the outside to score by a head from the Peter Romero pair Imapest and Miss Fandango.
"Most of my horses are used to racing on Wagga which is a big spacious track, then they go back to a little track like Albury or Leeton which are smaller and tighter corners, it's harder for those horses that have got some little issues with hanging and so forth," Kahlefeldt said.
He believes Isntthatright "isn't a bad little horse, who can win a few more" while The Ideal Dancer will always hold a special place in the trainer's career, even with a habit of dying on his run late.
"There's a lot of luck in the game and you've got to have the right drivers and the staff behind you and I've been lucky over the years to have a great team," he said.
Kahlefeldt's training career began 35 years ago with a small team in Temora and his first winner came soon after at West Wyalong.
He considers himself fortunate to have some good horses over the years.
"The best horse is probably African Dancer. She's one that goes back a long time and won at Harold Park for me," he said.
"She's been a top broodmare and produced a lot of group winners. I think that's the best you can say, once you've bred them and (the progeny) go on to win, that's better than buying them or winning with someone else's horse."
Lettuce Rock is another favourite, bred out of a Kahlefeldt mare and a four-time Group One winner.
The carnival atmosphere at Albury's New Year's Eve meeting added to the occasion with a crowd of around 3500 at the meeting, even with pandemic restrictions.
"Just the hype in the grandstand, everyone yelling and screaming, it's like a football game," he said.
It was a high note on which to close out 2020 which was a difficult year for Kahlefeldt in business.
"I'm mainly training syndicate horses now, I've only got a couple of my own and it's great to get new people involved," he said.
"They might only have a five per cent share in the horse but they get a big thrill... it's always a thrill getting a winner. They can be few and far between and so much can go wrong with the buggers."
Kahlefeldt hopes to kick off the new year in style too, taking three runners to Leeton's annual New Year's night meeting.