One thing Rob Heathcote learned from his days as a Contiki tour guide was there was always a fresh face and an exciting adventure around the corner.
The Brisbane trainer realises he will probably never have another Buffering, the people's champion who took him around the country and the globe while collecting seven Group I wins.
But as he reflects on Buffering's grand journey, at a time when the Queensland warhorse would have traditionally been preparing for another Spring Carnival assault, Heathcote is as keen as ever to unearth another champion.
And the 57-year-old reckons he might just die trying.
"Training horses is like a drug – once it's in your life, it gets in your system and is very hard to get rid of," Heathcote says.
"Being a horse trainer is not a job, it's a way of life.
"A lot of horse trainers don't retire – they die on the job – and I will probably be the same.
"I've always been a glass half full kind of guy and I'm very optimistic that I can keep going and get another really good horse.
"Now Buffering has gone, I'm certainly not going to throw the toys out of the cot.
"I'm going to keep working hard and keep turning them over until the next really good horse comes along.
"There is always that hope on the horizon that the next one is going to be a champ."
Heathcote feels he was blessed to have Buffering in his life, as he never envisaged being a horse trainer when he lived a different life in the 1980s and 90s.
They were exotic times as a European travel guide, working at ski resorts and cruising down the famous Grand Canal in Venice.
But Heathcote, with no background in racing, threw it all away to teach himself to be a horse trainer and swap the glamorous touring lifestyle for shuddering 3am wake-ups.
Only a decade or so later, along came Buffering.
Heathcote felt like he had won lotto when the horse purchased for just $22,000 at the 2009 Magic Millions Sale ended up raking in over $7 million.
What endeared Buffering to the public was that he had to do it the hard way, tangling with the likes of Black Caviar and Hay List as his first 17 runs at Group I level produced 10 placings without a win.
Buffering finally shed his bridesmaid tag by winning the 2013 Manikato Stakes and then added another six Group I's, with the cream on top being his famous win in the Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai last year.
Only in hindsight can Heathcote truly appreciate how the Queensland iron horse changed his life.
"Buffering was such an integral part of my life for seven years, he virtually was my life," Heathcote says.
"Even our family holidays and our travel revolved around Buffering.
"He took us to every Spring carnival in Melbourne, we had several trips to Perth and trips overseas to Hong Kong and Dubai, we would have a working holiday on all of those trips.
"Buffering not only gave us that lifestyle but he paid for it as well.
"The ride he took us on was enormous, even when he wasn't winning Group I's we were bloody excited whenever he raced.
"There is video footage of us running second and third to Black Caviar and Hay List and we were jumping up and down like idiots.
"Those other great horses were more classy than 'the Buff' but as he got older he got tougher and stronger."
Plans are progressing for a statue of Buffering at Eagle Farm racecourse and there will certainly be a strange feeling in the room at next month's Queensland Thoroughbred Awards in Brisbane.
Buffering will finally pass on the baton after five consecutive years of being named the Queensland Horse Of The Year.
Finalists this year are Gold Coast Magic Millions winner Houtzen, Group I winners Capital Gain and Yankee Rose along with warhorse Rudy and summer star Most Important.
"I probably think Houtzen will win it, not only for winning the Magic Millions but also for running an admirable race in the Golden Slipper," Heathcote says.
"She is always going to represent Queensland in The Everest, which should count for something."
So what does life after Buffering entail for Heathcote, apart from trying to unearth a new racing star?
At least to some extent, he plans to go back to the future and cherish his love of travel.
"Those Contiki years were great as there was such an excitement surrounding travel in that pre-social media era," he says.
"I look back now and think it was a pretty massive change going from a Contiki guide to horse trainer.
"I suppose the things that you had to be at Contiki – a good communicator, to get on well with clients and to be able to run a successful business – you also have to do to be a successful horse trainer.
"When I first started in racing I never took a holiday for 12 years but as I've got older I have realised I need to have more holidays.
"Despite some of the upheaval in Queensland racing we now have excellent training facilities in the middle of Eagle Farm and I am very comfortable leaving my staff in charge of my horses if I want to go away and have a holiday."
For Heathcote the great memories of Buffering will never fade and the trainer will regularly visit his old friend who now mixes his time between a retirement property in Queensland and Living Legends in Melbourne.
