Riverina harness racing identity Paul Kahlefeldt enjoys getting to the track to watch his horses compete. His horses carry the 'Lettuce' and 'Redbank' branding and he is a regular at the feature meetings cheering on his beloved horses. Kahlefeldt was excited when two of his horses, Lettuce Go Pippa and Lettuce Reign, qualified for the APG two year old fillies final at Melton on Saturday night but in a surprising twist he will be more than 1200 kilometres away in Port Macquarie.
The Kahlefeldt name is well known in the sporting landscape in Australia. Paul's son Brad has represented Australia at the Olympics and has won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games competing in the triathlon. Another of Paul's sons Jared will be competing in Sunday's Ironman Australia at Port Macquarie and Kahlefeldt will be cheering him on throughout.
"It is not too often that I don't go and watch my horses go around but I wouldn't miss Jared competing in the Ironman on the weekend, he has been training very hard and we are hoping for a good result," Kahlefeldt said.
"The aim is for him to qualify for Hawaii, Jared has a 14 acre property across from mine and he is very interested in the breeding side of harness racing and once he is able to he will be back working with the horses again."
Jared Kahlefeldt will swim 3.8 kilometres, ride 180 kilometres and run 42.2 kilometres on Sunday afternoon.
"I'm very proud of all of my children and it will be a big achievement for Jared on Sunday but in the build up to Sunday I will be keeping an eye on Sky Racing on Saturday night to cheer on the two fillies in the APG final."
"I don't know what the chances were of my two fillies drawing barriers ten and eleven but that's what has happened and now we are going to need some luck."
Lettuce Go Pippa is trained by Kerryann Turner and has only had the four starts.
"I bred Lettuce Go Pippa and she is very similar to her mother Queen Of Courage, she is a little bit one paced at this stage of her career but she is very tough and I think the speed will come as she gets older."
"Kerryann (Turner) has done a good job with her, I've known Kerryann for a long time and she looks after her horses so well."
Lettuce Reign is prepared by Mat Rue and was purchased by Kahlefeldt.
"She is a totally different filly to Lettuce Go Pippa and has a little bit more dash but isn't as strong."
"Mat Rue has done most of the work with her, he is a very good trainer and driver and I'm very happy with that association."
Kahlefeldt was at Tabcorp Park Menangle on Sunday afternoon and was pleased with the performance of his pacer Lettucerockthem.
"He is just thriving on his work at home and is handling the travel so well, I still think he needs one more run before he hits peak fitness."
"Everything with Lettucerockthem this season has been aimed at the Breeders Challenge, he won it as a two and three year old and to win it as a four year old would be one of the highlights of my time in the sport."
Greg Hayes