The smile and the widened eyes tell one story, and the excited tone to his voice tells another.
His genuine love for the people involved in thoroughbred and harness racing starts spilling out pretty quickly after just a question or two over a hot chocolate.
He was referred to as the "Where’s Wally?" of the southern racing scene in the pages of the Otago Daily Times last year due to his appearances at race tracks from Riccarton all the way down to Riverton.
But the comparison is not too far off — bar a red-and-white striped beanie.
Hay’s regular attendance is for a very good reason.
He’s well-respected, has the confidence of jockeys and knows his way around most race courses in the lower South Island.
Born in Bluff, Hay went to primary school in Otatara and Invercargill before heading off to Southland Boys’ High School.
The racing bug caught Hay fairly early, judging by one story from his family home in Invercargill.
One room of the house on Teviot St had stained flooring which was perfect for rolling marbles.
Hay broke the ladder off a toy fire engine — a move he might have thought twice about if he knew a career in the Fire Service was part of his future — which he and his brother used as starting gates.
"We used to buy assorted marbles and we’d name them after racehorses of the time," Hay chuckled.
"We would push them and crawl along behind giving a commentary."
After leaving school, Hay worked for an auto parts supplier for a short while and joined the volunteer fire brigade before a job became available in the professional ranks.
"I stayed there for about six years and that’s where I met [commentator] Dave McDonald and [horseman] John Cox and a few others," he said.
"The joining age was 20, but I started a wee bit younger — six months before I was 20. It was a great life."
Outside the firefighting work, Hay drove school buses, pruned trees and stacked hay for the Dennis brothers at Woodlands among other part-time jobs.
And a few years later, Hay was back driving buses — this time based in Christchurch for a tour company — when he learnt of a likely opening in the ambulance service back in Invercargill.
Hay’s first callout was just an hour after he started, when the service was called to a man who had fallen through a ceiling on to a concrete floor and had fractured his pelvis and a leg and had been knocked out.
"I walked in and thought where the hell am I going to start. But we were all put on with a senior officer and worked with them for about 12 months. Today there is much better education — back then, it was more hands-on as opposed to everything else."
Hay had to "fight and squabble" for his turn to work at the races, as he was one of five ambulance staff who were "very keen on the racing".
Hay could have been forgiven for going cold on racing pretty quickly though.
On his first day at a race meeting for St John, a steeplechase race was being held at Ascot Park.
The last jump in the home straight needed to be removed before the final lap, but the ambulance following the field had not been taken into account.
"The guy was in this big tractor with big forks on it at the birdcage gate and forgot there was an ambulance. So as soon as the last horse went past, he drove out.
"Luckily he managed to brake and swerve, but we spun right round. This tractor would have demolished us."
Hay was soon attending meetings at Winton, Wyndham, Riverton and Ascot Park, tending to the likes of Angus Mavor, Neill Ridley and Richard Collett, before Canterbury jockeys such as Chris Johnson started travelling down.
Hay focuses on the personal touch to ensure he establishes a rapport with the jockeys, many of whom are balancing their wasting requirements with maintaining enough strength to control a 550kg animal at full speed.
"I make a point of going into the jockeys’ room at the beginning of the meeting and say ‘ride safe’. They all come up and shake your hand," he said.
"I also go into the room afterwards and go up to them individually. The other thing is because I’m around the birdcage between races, the jockeys come to me for other things like ‘can you check my blood pressure?’. In the past, they wouldn’t because they would have to go out to the ambulance, but now I put a bag outside the jockeys’ room so I can treat them more privately."
While Hay has their trust, that trust has meant he has dealt with some of the tougher moments in southern racing.
He wasn’t working at Riverton when young apprentice Sam McRae suffered fatal injuries in March 2005 but — being a racing fan — he was on course.
With other staff looking after McRae on the trip to Invercargill, Hay offered to drive the on-course ambulance for the rest of the day.
But the toughest part was to come when the chairman of the stewards that day, Stewart Ching, asked Hay if he could speak to the jockeys in a group to update them on McRae’s status.
"I had to stand there and tell the jockeys he’s not good," Hay said.
"They all decided to carry on. Then we learnt just before the last race Sam had died . . . and I was asked then to tell them again after the last race. That was a bloody hard day."
Hay was not working at Kurow in late 2012 when Ashlee Mundy suffered injuries which led to her death, but after a call from his old mate Dave McDonald, he was able to get to Dunedin Hospital in the small hours to spend 15 minutes with Mundy before she died.
"She was so good, Ashlee — every time you talked her and said that was a good ride, she’d say "Absolutely!" — that was her favourite word."
Hay was "privileged and honoured" to speak at a memorial service for Ross Doherty after his sudden death last year and still makes a point of visiting his memorial plaque at Phar Lap Raceway every time he is there.
Hay hopes to continue in his racing paramedic role, which he began earlier this year, and sees himself as a consistent point of contact for racing participants and officials at race meetings from Timaru and south.
With the relationships he has established with the racing fraternity, it’s no wonder.
"It’s a great family. They’re good honest people," he said.
"They’re competitors on the track but they’re friends off it. If anything goes wrong, they pitch in to help."
There was not much help around for Hay when he had one of his more embarrassing moments on a race track and that man Dave McDonald featured again.
At Riverton Cup day one year, Hay went over to join his colleague in the ambulance inside the running rail.
"It was raining heavily, I jogged across the track and went to side straddle the rail. But just as I took off, my foot slipped and clipped the top of it. I nose dived into the mud and aqua-planed through it. I was absolutely saturated with mud.
"Dave [McDonald] saw it and commented, "Ladies and gentleman, some of you have probably witnessed today’s first fall.
"I sat in the ambulance and sulked for a couple of races after that."
The passion for racing extends past his 36 years with St John to a spot on the Otago Racing Club committee for some years and ownership in several thoroughbreds over the years including Of The Essence, Fly Solo and last season’s South Island Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes winner Coulee.
Despite a persistent line of questioning, there’s just one thing you won’t find out about Hay — his age.
"That’s something I’ll never say — all I’ll say is I’m over 50," he grinned.
Hay and his wife Mary have three children.
Eldest daughter Rebecca is a lawyer in Wellington, Charlotte is studying nursing, and son Tom is in year 13 at Kavanagh College.
Covering such a large area makes for a fair slab of time behind the steering wheel, but Hay would not have it any other way.
"There’s a lot of travelling involved, but I’ve met some wonderful people."
