WANTABADGERY trainer Rodger Waters says a victory in Saturday's Tumbarumba Cup with Bay Lane would be one of the most emotional of his career after the bushfires forced brother Mont to temporarily relocate his horses.
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Mont and his his adult children managed to save the family house from the fires which ravaged the community, but Rodger has taken over his horses until he gets back on his feet.
The six-year-old is owned by Mont, wife Anita and children James, Bridget and Emily.
He is likely to be sent out at a decent price in the eight-horse field, but a home town win in the 1400m feature would be a fitting result after the heartache Tumbarumba has endured.
It would also ensure the cup stays in the family after Pastiche won a fourth cup for Rodger last year.
"I definitely don't think it's a waste of time going up there but it would be a great boost for Mont if he had a winner in the local cup," Rodger said.
"Absolutely (it would be emotional), not only because Tumba's been devastated by the fires but it's a huge buzz to win your home cup.
"I won't be able to claim this win if he wins because I've only had him a couple of weeks, I'll let him (Mont), make the speech."
Bushfire smoke has disrupted Bay Lane's lead-in to the race.
After a victory at Albury four starts ago in December, he was set to run at Albury but the meeting's postponement meant he was unable to complete sufficient work before finishing tenth of 12 over 1800m at Wagga on January 9.
He is on a quick one-week back-up after finishing 11th of 14 at Forbes last weekend.
"He definitely fretted for a couple of weeks (after he came to my stable) but I do feel like the last ten days he's settled in well, and I'd like to think he'd be competitive," Waters said.
"A couple of them may be a bit tougher than he's normally racing against, but Tumba's a funny track.
"They race differently up there, they can go very hard and slow up, quite often it's the horse that's got the good draw and a bit of early speed that wins, and sometimes the best horse doesn't always win at Tumba."
Top weight Blazing Ash, trained by Wangaratta's Dan McCarthy, is expected to be prominent in betting while in-form Canberra trainer Doug Gorrel has entered Sestina and last year's runner-up Southern Gamble.
The six-race meeting was set to go ahead as of Friday afternoon with stewards confirming they will implement the stage two heat policy with a maximum temperature of around 40 degrees forecast.
Half the price of admission will also be donated to the local fire services.
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