A slick win aboard the $2.40 favourite Elita delivered Ashwood his 100th Victorian driving win for the extended 2019-20 harness racing season, while Tay Tay's runaway success later in the evening brought up a groundbreaking training ton for Hargreaves.

The young training combination has gone from strength-to-strength in 2020, accelerating the pace at a phenomenal rate over the past three months, with no doubt plenty more in store in December.

Both 100-win milestones represent stunning new career-bests, following former career-highs in 2018-19 - Ashwood with 66 driving wins and Hargreaves with 24 on the training front.

The achievements were cause for celebration out at Shelbourne, where the talented young team has based itself since late 2018 - albeit they were quickly back to work and doing what they do best, notching another winner at Charlton on Thursday with Wisp Of Smoke.

It's said, 'success has a thousand fathers', This could not be truer for Hargreaves and Ashwood.

"It's been a great year - we've got great staff and great owners and supporters, who make our job much easier," Ashwood said.

"The stable has really built momentum now and we have got a lot more owners, so we are starting to get some nicer horses in that are winning more races," Hargreaves added.

"I didn't think it would all come together this quick - I thought eventually we might get there.

"We've been really lucky. Garry Collinson has been a really big owner and he has been exceptional to us. He's really backed us.

"I think him having the number of horses he has and has been buying for us has really made a difference.

"Every trainer needs that type of owner and I know we are really grateful to Kim and Garry as our biggest backers."

K & A Racing has really picked up the pace in the last three months, with 38 winners (and 30 driving wins for Ashwood) from September through November.

The stable already has four this month, including a treble at Mildura on the night the dual milestones were notched with The Knight Star, Elita and the highly-promising filly Tay Tay

The Knight Star was driven by young stable employee Jordan Leedham, while Ashwood took the steers on the other two, while also scoring a win for South Australian trainer Jake Webster.

Ashwood, who entered Wednesday night on 99 driving wins, admitted he was confident of leaving Mildura with the 100 win milestone in the bag.

"To be honest, The Knight Star was drawn a bit tricky, so he was going to need a bit of luck, but I thought Tay Tay for sure would get me across the line," he said.

"The other two horses both had good runs, so everything worked out well.

"Since they changed the calendar season from September 1 to December 31 we thought it would be touch and go to get (to 100), but the last couple of months have been really good."

The gifted young trainers have turned placing their horses in suitable races and rotating horses in and out of the stable into an art-form.

"We've had some nice horses come into the stable on low marks to win their share of races," Ashwood said.

"That's a real plus for us."

"It helps when you have low-class horses and you can take them wherever you can and win. When (COVID) restrictions eased, travel-wise, we got a chance to go full-tilt and have gone to nearly every race meeting, which has helped."

Determined to cap their meteoric rise, Hargreaves and Ashwood are now hoping to uncover that one much sought-after bona fide star that every stable craves.

Hopes are high, he might already be in their presence in the form of the juvenile trotter Dont Care, who finished runner-up to Watts Up Majestic in the Group 1 Breeders Crown final for two-year-old colts and geldings and followed up with an impressive third-career win (from nine starts) at Maryborough last week.

"We definitely want to have more runners at Melton each week. We have Dont Care and I think he might be that horse," Hargreaves said.

"There are some other nice ones that are just that level below like Tay Tay and Beat City and Dyslexic.

"We are slowly building up and we are slowly collecting nicer horses, but more Melton runners is definitely the aim."

Dont Care looms as a top contender for this month's rich Vicbred Super Series, with the final to be contested at Melton on New Year's Eve.

Into that mix of horses capable of making the step up to fast-class racing, Ashwood added the two-year-old pacer Animado, who will run at Melton on Saturday night and has won two of his first three starts.

Whatever the future holds, the young training team plans on taking it in their stride, with no pressure - at least from within - of having to replicate the amazing feats of 2019-20.

"I don't think I feel any pressure, I am just going to enjoy the moment and enjoy what I've got and be grateful for what I've got," Hargreaves said.

"I won't be putting too much pressure on myself, but obviously I'd like to keep training this amount of winners.

"Alex getting 100 driving wins was a huge achievement and that's definitely a key to our stable's success, having him drive the majority of the horses."

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