Rotorua's Bill Pomare pictured with one of his horses in 2013. Photo /File
This evening Rotorua trainer Bill Pomare's dream comes true when his horse Ocean Billy lines up for the race that stops two nations - the Melbourne Cup. Here we revisit a 2013 Our People article on the local racing legend.
Bill Pomare accepts his confession that he was a founding member of the Mongrel Mob is likely to cop criticism. He also suspects there will be present Mob members who dispute him being a genuine gang guy - technically he wasn't.
Today's so-called gang culture is a far cry from the days he ran on the wild side. However he's adamant few critics will know how the name came about.
"Me and some mates were up [in court] in Napier for disorderly behaviour, the judge said we were nothing but a mob of mongrels, the name just stuck.'
Bill's upfront about revealing he's "had a little visit" to borstal - three months in Waikeria for driving the getaway car in a bottle store robbery. He can carbon date exactly when he was "inside", being there when decimal currency was introduced, July 10, 1967.
"I went in with a pound and came out with a dollar."
In the years since, Bill Pomare's become straight as a die, a successful businessman, racehorse owner/trainer/breeder, service club member, under-the-radar philanthropist and a cancer survivor, crediting a Cook Island mystic for his "miraculous" recovery.
It's unsurprising Bill Pomare was a teenage tearaway. One of twin boys born to a 15-year-old - "I didn't meet my mother until I was 39", he was whangaied (adopted) by relatives.
Life was harsh in Wanganui's back country. Walking barefoot to school he and twin Jim peed on each other's bare feet to warm them in winter. Bill didn't get his first shoes "black dancing pumps from the second hand shop" until he was 12.
Living rough, he grew up as his uncle's punching bag.
"He was a very cruel man, once he beat me off my horse with a supplejack because I'd opened the wrong gate. When I gagged on a lamb chop he knocked me out cold."
In hindsight Bill suspects his undoing was being less agriculturally inclined and more academic than his twin.
"I got high marks, the teachers wanted to sponsor me to sit UE but my uncle wouldn't allow it."
At 15 he made a run for it, a swag bag on his back. Work was plentiful ... general labouring, the Patea and Wanganui freezing works, a poultry farm and driving rubbish trucks minus a driving licence in Wellington.
"I had this V8 coupe and slept in it until it got pinched. I moved under a bridge and washed dishes in a cafe in exchange for food."
To-ing and fro-ing between the North and South Islands he came as close to putting down roots as he ever had in Hastings where his delinquent days began and the Mongrel Mob had its beginnings.
Post-borstal there was a stint at the Whakatau freezing works and more bad company.
"One day I went out to get milk and bread and never came back, I realised I'd had enough of drinking and leering up."
There was still "a little bit of strife" when he returned to Wanganui "then this family took me under their wing and encouraged me to make something of my life".
Moving on, in his early 20s he met first wife Gail, and became apprenticed to the local power board. Once qualified, he opened his own appliance business "taking off the day the doors opened".
When his marriage floundered he sold up and headed to Tauranga but found it too expensive. En route back to Wanganui he stopped in Rotorua "where I've been in business ever since".
That will be 30 years on June 10. With his shop beneath hospital hill, nurses were good customers. One called Pauline caught his eye, Bill proposed.
Working 18-hour days, seven days a week, business boomed.
"The bank manager said I was earning more than the Prime Minister."
The couple were building a new home on the Sunnex Rd property they'd bought when, on his 39th birthday, stomach cancer was diagnosed.
"The surgeon gave me a year [to live].We had four children, I couldn't let them down, I had to survive."
Aware of other cancer sufferers who'd visited Rarotonga for natural healing, Bill and Pauline followed but had no idea where to start.
"We ducked up this really rough track on a motor scooter, an American woman came out of a shack and said, 'I've been waiting for you'. I was gobsmacked, I told her I'd been sick and she said I'd be all right."
Her partner, "Pa", treated Bill with coconut milk and local foods.
"Within three weeks I was well."
There were, he admits, setbacks but after six cancer-free years the family celebrated with a world trip.
In Wales, Pauline became ill - the initial diagnosis a hydatids cyst, but once home, cancer was confirmed.
"Now it was my turn to take care of her."
Their faith in natural medicine took the Pomares to a "healing guy" in Brazil. Pauline lived three more years.
While at Sunnex Rd Bill "got into" horses with Flying Beau his first.
"All my good horses are her descendants." The stake money they've won him's impressive.
On his 60th birthday he married Susie Towsey the family friend who rode track work for him. For the past 10 years he's bred horses and raised sheep on 15.4ha (38 acres) at Jackson Rd.
Pomare Electrical continues to 'tick over'. Not all clients are cash customers. Bill prefers to do work "the old fashioned way ... on trust, I understand what tough times are like".
Bill Pomare
Born: Te Kopuru, 1948.
Education: Primary schools in Poutu and Opunake, brief period Poneke High.
Family: Third wife Susie, six legitimate children. "I've tracked down three others, they look just like me."
Interests: Horse breeding and racing, former player Rotorua Palace All Stars basketball team, ex member Geyserland Lions Club, committee member Rotorua Racing Club, "the odd game of golf", following the All Blacks and super rugby, helping others "I hate injustice".
On his life: "It's been a journey."
Personal Philosophy: "Keep people happy.""
The first homes are expected to be connected by the end of June.