Mr Hayson has been involved with both industries for more than 30 years, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

His interest in horse racing stems from his love for the animal - and his short stature.

When he was 15-years-old Mr Hayson accepted an apprenticeship with Albert McKenna at Randwick Racecourse where he gained his jockey licence.

His first visit to Bega came during his 10th ride where he recorded his maiden victory.

He returned nine years later and decided to settle down.

“I came back to the Valley as a 24-year-old, married a local and stayed,” Mr Hayson said.

“In the racing industry a lot of jockeys say they ‘click’ with a certain area around the country and I clicked here.”

Bungarbi was his favourite horse with the animal being one of Mr Hayson’s 1000 wins.

According to Mr Hayson a freak accident forced him to retire after 30 years of competing.

“I got hurt coming out of the barrier in Bega when I was riding Bungarbi and broke both my wrists,” he said.

“Even though the doctor cleared me to return I called it quits.”

Mr Hayson said there was mystery surrounding his horse racing career.

“I rode under the name Robert Jacobs but it was only later in life that I found out my real surname was Hayson,” he said.

“However I couldn’t change it for racing because of legal reasons so I effectively had two names at one stage.”

While racing Mr Hayson also worked as a dry cleaner but his real passion was with photography.

He has now been a professional for the past 37 years.

Mr Hayson said he has always been interested in photography.

“I was influenced by my brother who was a pro when I was younger,” he said.

“As a kid I always had a camera with me and took photos of everything I could.”

Mr Hayson and business partner Chris Murphy set up a company called Magnum in the 1980s which supplied photo labs across Australia and New Zealand.

“That was a good career and no one could believe that it was possible to run a business of that size in Bega,” Mr Hayson said.