The popular Mosgiel-based driver scored career win 100 by steering Och Aye The Noo to win race 8.
The reinsman got to his ton with a race-to-race double, having guided Hopes And Dreams to victory in the race before.
McIlwrick is known throughout the South not just for his cheeky smile, but also for a like sense of humour.
''When we all start, we all hope we win a hundred in our first year,'' McIlwrick quipped.
Winning on Show Day at Addington with Golden Gate was a career highlight, but McIlwrick also takes particular pleasure in winning smaller races for some of the game's hardy battlers.
''It's their New Zealand Cup,'' he said. ''It's a win for the little man, it's the best.''
Picking out particular people in the industry who had helped him achieve his 100 wins would be ''rude'', as that was a long list, he said.
''They know who they are.''
He would never forget the support he got when he entered the industry and was trying to get himself established, he said.
In racking up 26 wins this season, McIwrick is 14 wins clear of his nearest rivals on the national junior drivers' premiership table.
''I am very fortunate to be driving these nice horses,'' he said.
Training a winner could be another milestone the reinsman could accomplish in the future. Och Aye The Noo's trainer, Martin Denton, credited McIlwrick for doing most of the recent training work with his winner.
It was a Love Me Tender style of racing rather than a Jailhouse Rock that got another trotter, Its Elvis, a deserved victory last night.
Reinsman Blair Orange was able to control a comfortable race tempo in front to beat out his rivals in race 6 on the Darryn Simpson-trained trotter.
The win was not only good reward after the 5yr-old ran four second placings leading into last night's race, but also a measure of the horse's progression.
''He is getting better and stronger and learning what the game is about now,'' Simpson said.
Under his Mosgiel trainer's tutelage, Its Elvis has turned himself from a slightly weak and wayward prospect into a serious middle-grade trotting contender.
''I think he is going to be a good stayer one day. He has always had the ability but he has always been a bit on the weak side.''
As the horse has got more experience, he has continued to strengthen up. The process has contrasted with that of his half brother Its Oscar; he was more of a natural early running type, Simpson said.
Another winner in last night's programme is on a similarly progressive path to Its Elvis.
The Syd Breen-trained Sagwitch stepped quickly and ran his rivals ragged to score a runaway victory in race 6.
The horse's motor and manners have winning reinsman Brad Williamson thinking he could be a country cups-quality horse to follow in the future.
''He will get better in time. Next year he might be a country cups sort of horse. He loves the stands and loves leading.''
Southern Lights and Brent Barclay picked a path through all sorts of mid-race chaos to win for southern trainer Peter Hunter.
The race was not just chaotic on the track: Southern Lights rocked punters by scoring at odds of more than 40 to one.
Southern Lights shares the same name as a 21-race winning Southland greyhound superstar, but the equine may not reach the same heights as his canine counterpart.
The horse was well bred but he had generally disappointed his connections, though he had raced in stronger fields, Hunter said.
-By Jonny Turner
