Country racing stalwart Jim Allpass says old habits die hard after more than five decades of service to the sport.
"I haven't had a bet in all the time I've been working," the 79 year old says.
"Right back in 1959 when I first kicked off, I had a jackaroo working with me, and his father was a bookie.
"The bookie said, 'Keep the money and put it in the bank, you won't beat us', and that's stuck in my mind ever since."
The Barcaldine Race Club recently thanked Jim for the immense contribution he has made to country racing by holding the Jim Allpass Race Day in his honour.
Jim got involved in horse racing with the Barcaldine Race Club in 1959, and was also a member of the town's two other racing clubs - the Barcaldine Diggers Club and the Barcaldine Amateurs Club - before they amalgamated.
"The old track was out on black soil country to the west of town," he says.
"It was getting very old and dilapidated, and the clubs were broke, so the council pulled them out of the hole and bundled them together into the Barcaldine Racing Club."
Although Jim has kept a keen eye on racing for 60 years now, he rounds his service down to 55 after a couple of sabbaticals.
"I've been doing it because I enjoy it.
"One year lead on to another and it went on for 55 years. It has actually been 60 years - but I missed three years at one point and two others through sickness."
His first job was as a starter before moving on to lengthy stints as the racing steward for the Barcaldine Race Club and then the advisory steward for the Central Queensland Racing Association.
The attraction to racing has always been a simple matter for Jim.
"Right from when I was a kid I've loved horses," he says.
"I've always loved a well-bred horse and a well-bred horse at the peak of condition. That's the attraction."
More than 60 people came to the Barcaldine Race Club for Jim Allpass Race Day last Saturday, with friends and family making the trip from far-flung corners of the state.
Jim was presented with a plaque thanking him for his years of service, and the Jim Allpass Open Plate 1200 metre was also run in his honour, with Jim watching from his usual perch above the jockey's room.
"He has heaps of stories, some of which probably shouldn't be repeated, about the great jockeys, brilliant trainers, fearless punters, amazing horses and the vast cross section of community members who have been horse owners," son Doug Allpass says.
"I was very proud and thankful," says Jim.
"I thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend and I can't stop thanking everyone who was responsible.
"It brought my family together. We just had a wonderful weekend."
Asked if one horse had stood out in the time he had followed the sport, Jim is quick to mention another country racing legend, Charlie Prow.
Charlie wrote himself into bush folklore in the late 1980's as the jockey and trainer of Miss Petty, a mare that won a record 22 consecutive races in central western Queensland
"The best horse I ever saw was Miss Petty, the mare that Charlie Prow won 22 races in a row on," Jim says.
"Very occasionally one horse comes along and creates these records.
"I knew an old bloke who once said that in life you'd get one good horse and one good dog.
"And I think that's pretty much right."