The Waters clan is hopeful of an upset win at Wagga on Thursday to provide a boost after a horror week where they rallied together to save their family home from being destroyed by the bushfire which ravaged Tumbarumba on Saturday.
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Although they lost an untold number of cattle and sheep stock trainer Mont Waters, his daughters Emily and Bridget, son James and two neighbours combined to save their house, hay shed, wool shed and other infrastructure on their property.
Waters' four race horses were all evacuated to his brother Rodger's property at Wantabadgery, along with wife Anita and 16-year-old twin sons Edward and Henry.
Mont will have two runners at Wagga - Bay Lane ($26) in the Benchmark 58 Handicap (1800m) and (Truth Be Written ($51) in the Bidgee Pumps and Irrigation Class 1 Handicap (1300m).
"I rang him (Mont) last night (Tuesday) and asked what he needed me to do. He just said 'win a race for me,'" Roger said.
"They'll both be well into double figure odds, but they both seem healthy and happy and have made the transition.
"He saved his house and sheds but the rest of the farm went and an untold amount of stock.
"But lives are the main thing."
Daughter Emily said the experience of saving their home was 'a blur'.
"It came in about 4pm into our valley and within a minute the heat doubled and tripled," she said.
"We fought it I reckon until about 11pm that night. We're still counting the losses over the next few days and it's going to take a bit of time to know what's lost, but we're staying positive.
"It (fire) came pretty quick, but we were lucky it was defendable.
"Dad's been able to look at that (horses being evacuated) as a huge positive, knowing they're safe and got our early.
"He can't wait for them to go around at Wagga and even if they don't go that well, it's still a distraction."
Stewards will make a decision at 7.30am on Thursday on whether the air quality at the track is good enough for the meeting to proceed.
Meeting cancellations has resulted in a bumper ten-race schedule at Wagga.
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