Even for the brilliant reinsman who’s served up numbers long thought beyond the realm of possibility, this one is borderline ridiculous: Chris Alford is on the verge of his 100th Group 1.

‘The Puppet’ has 99 in the bank and will sit behind brave filly Kualoa in tomorrow night’s Lazarus Victoria Oaks in pursuit of a triple-figure treat that one more ’1 will bring.

“It’s like cricket or anything else, when I was first trying to drive 100 winners in a year that was a special number, to get 100 Group 1s would be pretty surreal,” Alford said. “It’s not something you would ever dream of doing.”

Certainly a 23-year-old Alford dared not consider it on April 24 1992, when he sat in the sulky of an outsider in the Australian Gold Series final at Harold Park.

Not only would that two-year-old, Golden Reign, become a champion, but it would be the horse who’d open many doors for Alford and deliver his first moment of Group 1 glory.

 “I don’t think I had ever really driven in a lot (of Group 1s) before then, Golden Reign was the first really good horse I had driven,” Alford said.

“He ran second in the heat when we thought he would win. He was 25 or 30-1 for the final, it was only about his third or fourth start and the favourite was the leader driven by Brian Gath for Eddie Mohar.

“We were about three back the fence at Harold Park, he got the split at about the 400 and ran over the top of them. I still remember it like it was yesterday. I reckon I did salute, maybe more out of shock than anything.”

The Alford-Golden Reign combination would achieve further Group 1s, including the 1995 Inter Dominion, one of The Puppet’s most memorable, though there is another that sits above them all.

“The most special Group 1 was probably when Mont Denver Gold won the Hunter Cup. We got him about six months before as a C2 or C3. Dad (Barry) was pretty sick and to have him there for the presentation was probably the most special moment.

“After that the two Inter Dominions (Golden Reign 1995 and Lennytheshark 2015) and the Miracle Mile (Lennytheshark 2017) were all on a par.”

Whether or not it’s tomorrow night that Alford raises the whip as 99 turns to 100 remains to be seen, to do so may take one of his finest drives given the make-up of this year’s Oaks.

Barry Purdon’s Belle Of Montana looms large in gate one and has been priced accordingly by bookies while Kualoa’s second row draw has meant others will need to be brave to ensure Alford’s filly can get a crack at the crown.

“The draw’s probably hurt (Kualoa) a bit,” Alford said. “It would be nice if something could get on top of (Belle Of Montana) at the start. I would have loved to drawn one and had it draw 11 but that didn’t happen and a bad draw can turn out to be a good one.

“If a few go to war and she can get a crack at them she might surprise everyone. I think back to the heat run in the New South Wales Oaks when she sat in, peeled out and ran a 27.5 second quarter and kept going. It just comes down to how the race is run.”

Come what may, an ever-modest Alford will no doubt deflect any acclaim and be humbled by forthcoming praise as he borders yet another Southern Hemisphere statistical first.

“I just think about how lucky I have been to drive so many good horses. I’m happy with the way I’ve gone throughout the years. I have always done my best when I go out there, which is the main thing.”