Alan Lai answered an online ad for a jockey's apprentice a few years ago, having only ever taken pony rides as a child.
On Saturday, Lai rode gelding Grinzinger Star in his Birdsville Cup debut, kicking up red dust in 35C heat.
Lai is from the Hong Kong Jockey Club and has been living and training in South Australia for the past two years to wear-in his silks.
He said the races felt faster in Birdsville, in outback Queensland, where the horses "just go".
The meet was a baptism of fire for the 24-year-old - he'd never been camping before, let alone in the middle of a desert heatwave.
"I didn't expect it to be that hot ... camping is fun," Lai said ahead of the cup.
"It's a good experience.
"The dust is terrible and all the flies around (are) annoying."
Neodium was victorious in the $50,000 race - followed by Trumpsta and Ella Te Ama - backing up its 2023 win to become only the fourth horse to claim consecutive Birdsville Cups.
Grinzinger Star finished seventh.
Thousands of punters trekked to Birdsville for the 142nd year of the famed race weekend, making the bumpy pilgrimage on outback roads to the edge of the Simpson Desert.
After each race, revellers ran their own record times in a dash across the dust to secure a spot in the shady grandstands.
Despite the conditions, fashion is high stakes in Birdsville.
Some wore practical boots, Akubras and fly nets, others chose novelty costumes, while many women raised the bar in fascinators, heels and gowns.
Brant and Jenny Maslen, from Gwandalan on the NSW central coast, wore matching green and gold blazers, their lapels dotted with pins from Wimbledon, the British Grand Prix and the Melbourne Cup.
"We had to do the Birdsville Cup - it's iconic," Mr Maslen said.
The bold jackets, embroidered with the tagline Scumbag College, have served as their uniforms at sporting events around the world.
They committed to never miss a moment of sporting history again after once inadvertently leaving Paris on the final day of the Tour De France.
"The guy we were renting from gave us a lift to the airport," Mr Maslen told AAP.
"I said, 'mate - what's all these stands and everything around the Arc de Triomphe'.
"He said, 'if you stayed one more night at our place, you would have seen the finish'.
"Right there and then we said we're not missing out."
Voice of the races Josh Fleming, who called his first Birdsville event at 14, marked his 21st race, having missed only a few.
The friendships forged in the desert are life-long, Mr Fleming said.
"It's the isolation and just getting away from your normal run-of-the-mill life, just to get away to the real Australia, the outback," he said.
"We're only here for three or four days of the year, but every time we walk in, we just feel like we were here last week."
Making memories is at the heart of the races, including for Birdsville mayor Francis Murray who met his wife when she came to work at the Birdsville Hotel years ago.
"We got to know each other over a couple of years - otherwise there's not too many opportunities," said Mr Murray, who was raised in the town of 110.
"There's also a lot of memories of wind, dust and drinking XXXX."
The journalist travelled to Birdsville as a guest of Birdsville Races.
