A stormy night at Forbury Park was probably not what Tom and Sharon Twidle were picturing for their 38th wedding anniversary on Thursday.
But the clouds disappeared - metaphorically at least - for the rest of the night, courtesy of a horse named Woodlea Legend.
The 5yr-old provided the Twidles with their greatest moment in harness racing when he sprinted up the passing lane to win the 4 and 5yr-old championships at group 3 level.
The victory in the $25,000 feature not only surprised the Twidles but the punters as well, paying $48.20 for the win.
''This is unbelievable. We thought our best chance was about third here,'' Tom Twidle said.
The presence of Border Control - a dual group 1 winner - had Twidle setting his sights on a placing, but junior driver Katie Cox found a nice slot in in the trail shortly after the start and the rest is history.
''Katie gave him the perfect trail today and it was a really great effort,'' he said.
''We didn't know how he would handle the wet track because he hadn't been on one like that before. It was all guess work and with a horse like Border Control in there, you thought you were running for places.
''I think the conditions possibly helped our joker. It took a bit of the sprint out of the others and he just kept trucking as normal.''
Twidle has been training since the late 1980s, collecting 47 wins during that time including a win in the 2003 Delightful Lady Classic with Woodlea Life.
''We beat some very good material in that [including Molly Darling] and we've won a couple on premier nights and a couple on [New Zealand] Cup Day.
''But this guy is just unbelievable. We've had a real thrill racing this horse. He's had a lot of problems and he seems to rise above them.''
The Twidles largely stick to their own breed, which are all named with the Woodlea prefix, although they stepped out of their comfort zone in February, spending $8500 on a Jereme's Jet filly.
''We ventured out this year and bought one at the sales. That's the first time we've done that. Otherwise we normally just race what we breed, as well.''
Twidle was ''thrilled'' for Cox, who labelled the race as her career highlight to date.
''It was a fantastic opportunity from Tom [for him] to put a junior on like myself and to drive a lovely horse like this,'' she said.
''At the start he had that wee gallop away but came down pretty quickly. He felt pretty good in the running and as soon as that passing lane gap opened up, he was right on the job. He just wanted to go.''
