It proved a great milestone day for popular jockey Jarrod Fry at Cranbourne on Wednesday when he rode his 100th winner for the season for the first time.
It happened a day after his 33rd birthday and just two months after his wedding - two factors that the jockey himself says are significant in his rise this season to prominence, where he sits sixth on the Victorian jockeys' premiership and is the state's leading country rider for 2021/22.
Fry has clearly sharpened his focus, but that he drove for four hours on the morning of the race after trackwork sessions at Warrnambool for the one ride at Cranbourne - before driving back home to outside of Ballarat - says there's a lot more going on with the hoop than experience and stability.
"I feel like I know the game well," he said as he took the 300-kilometre drive to Cranbourne on Wednesday.
"You sort of ride the wave. If you haven't had a winner for a while, you start second guessing but at the moment, everything I do is with confidence.
"It's all going really well and that feeds more confidence and I feel like I am riding the wave of it and making the most of it."
Then there's the country lifestyle that he's long craved and that he now enjoys with his wife Ashleigh, her dressage horses and the pair's greyhounds.
"I feel like because I live on a farm outside of Ballarat, I feel like I get a good release from it all when I get home," Fry said.
"I like to live a quiet country lifestyle and I think since I moved there about three years ago, everything has started to fall into place.
"And, at the moment now that I am doing some riding for (Warrnambool-based trainer) Lindsey Smith, I am probably getting the best quality of horse I've had for a long time."
To get where he is today, Fry has had to travel. He doesn't keep a travel log - he leaves that to his mechanic.
"I probably get the car serviced every five to six weeks as I do get around. But that's the game," he said.
Fry returned from a leg injury this season and immediately - to his great relief - found himself among the winners.
"It's always hard when you come back from injury to get your momentum going but I was really lucky that I started the season well and it rolled on and then obviously the Lindsey Smith connections came and he's been a great supporter," Fry said.
Fry's early support came in the form of former leading trainer Darren Weir.
"I had no family connection other than going to the races a few times but through my uncle I met and started working with Darren Weir," Fry explained.
"I couldn't put a halter on to begin with or anything when I started. He literally taught me everything, from riding a lead pony to gallops."
The end of the season is on July 31 but might come a little earlier for Fry, who has an important date to keep.
"We're going on honeymoon closer to end of the season," he said.
"Because I am leading the country rider, I wanted to make sure I won that (title), so we've put away the break for now."
Currently, Fry's 96 Victorian country winners have him four ahead of John Allen, who is at home in Ireland enjoying a long break, while Harry Coffey is next on 81, ahead of Jordan Childs (80), who also went on holidays this week.