Harry White's 200-hectare Gisborne property is the kind of place jockeys and their mounts must dream of retiring to.
The smell of horse drifts across the sea of lush grass that surrounds the large farmhouse and slides toward the horizon. A home-made one-hole golf course with a view of the nearby hills decorates the neat front garden.
As White wanders across the paddocks with his border collie, Jock, bouncing at his heels, the legendary four-time Melbourne Cup-winning jockey seems a happy man; tanned, perky and contented.
He rode his last race in 1995, aged 51, and retired to the farm to rear beef cattle. Two of White's Melbourne Cup-winning mounts, Hyperno and Think Big, lived out their days with him and are buried on the property. "My last ride was in Geelong and I just came home and said to my wife, Lauris, 'I'm not going back any more, simple as that'," White says.
"You can't do two jobs properly at once. I was working here and then riding twice a week, and I loved it here. It just seemed to be natural for me to be on the farm. I'm a worker, I like to get dirt on my hands."
The farming has become a little harder, though, since White was diagnosed three months ago with multiple sclerosis, after experiencing what he thought was merely a hip or back problem.
He is philosophical about the condition, saying he is just glad it happened at the age of 60 rather than 16. He is finding it more difficult getting around the property and has a friend who helps him out with farm work.
On the Sunday before the Melbourne Cup, however, White will slip into a suit and, with Lauris on his arm, venture into Melbourne where he will be a guest of honour at a fund-raising event held by the Echo Foundation.
At the dinner, hosted by race-caller Bryan Martin, a signed photograph of White streaking across the Gisborne property on Think Big will be auctioned, with the proceeds helping fund Echo's goal of assisting the elderly.
The photo was taken by the renowned sports photographer Clive MacKinnon the day before White won the 1979 Melbourne Cup on Hyperno, having done the double in 1974-75 on Think Big.
"I think it's a great thing that Bryan's doing, so if I can help in any way by being there, I'm more than happy. Old people need helping out," White says.
The greater part of the evening will be taken up by a Calcutta, a type of sweep where participants are not allocated horses or riders for a fixed price, but bid for them.
Martin says Calcuttas have been part of the Melbourne Cup for 140 years, and that the Echo Foundation's, with a prize pool of $50,000, is Melbourne's largest.
Other guests will include racing greats Scobie Breasley, Malcolm Johnstone, Roy Higgins and Darren Beadman.