WAGGA trainer Gary Colvin hopes to have his horses back in their stables within a week after the flooding of the Murrumbidgee River again wreaked havoc on his property.
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The Colvin team spent Tuesday evacuating from his Travers Street stables after rising river levels quickly reached his home.
With the help of a number of fellow Wagga trainers, Colvin was able to find temporary homes for his large team of horses.
"I thought we would have been right, but we weren't. I thought we might have got away with it but it just kept coming," Colvin said.
Colvin is unsure about how long he will be out for and said it will prove an expensive exercise both in the meantime and then again when allowed back home.
"I don't know. I've got to make sure that everything's alright. I'd hope it's no more than a week," Colvin said.
"It will go down but it's no good doing anything until we're all clear. There's a bit of rain around so I want to check that out first.
"The biggest cost is getting your boxes back in order. You've got to put a couple more staff on. It makes it hard now, you're travelling here, there and everywhere.
"It's just a bloody nuisance."
Colvin thanked the racing community for their assistance as his horses headed for stables at trainers Mick Travers, Doug Gorrel, Peter Morgan and Cindy Browne.
"I couldn't thank them enough. They've been very good," he said.
With still a large team to work, including Country Championships winner Another One who is on a Kosciuszko campaign, Colvin said he and his team are getting it done.
"It's just a bloody nuisance but we got them all done this morning alright. They're everywhere but we got them done," he said.
"We were a bit disorganised this morning, the first morning, but I think we're right to go now."
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GUNDAGAI-Adelong Racing Club managed to escape the floods with only minor damage.
A section of about 100 metres of the sand training track was removed and will need to be replaced but otherwise the remainder of the course remained unscathed.
Long-serving club secretary Len Tozer said the water backed on to the track at about the 1700 metre mark and reached sections of the course.
"It did a bit of damage but not to the track itself, it dried out well," Tozer explained.
"About 100 metres of the sand was removed from the training track and will have to be replaced and regraded but we got out of it pretty well.
"It came on and cleared out pretty quickly. It's only minor damage and didn't get to any of the facilities."
Gundagai trainer David Blundell did not have to evacuate from his stables.
Gundagai next race on Sunday, September 4.
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THREE-time Southern District premiership-winning jockey John Kissick has called time on his riding career.
Kissick has not ridden in a race since April due to ongoing battles with injury and formally called time this week.
The 31-year-old has accepted a position as stable foreman with top Queensland pairing Steven O'Dea and Matt Hoysted and will make the move north in coming weeks.
Kissick's career in the saddle was ruined by injury but he still managed 403 winners.
Kissick, who started out with Peter Clancy at Leeton, said he had 'lost the passion' for riding with injuries also taking their toll.
He spent three years on the sideline after his back injury from a steer-riding incident and then missed another 12 months shortly after his return with a broken leg.
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DOUG Gorrel moved into his new stables at Wagga last Saturday and has wasted no time in hitting the highway.
One of the key factors behind Gorrel's move from Canberra back home to Wagga was to make Highway Handicaps more available to his stable.
The soon to be $120,000 features are open to country NSW trainers, with Canberra horses allowed but always at the bottom of the ballot.
Gorrel has picked out Saturday's $100,000 TAB Highway Class Three Handicap (1300m) for his mare Cotton Fields.
She has been set a task by drawing barrier 16, but she will come in several with only a field of 12 to start.
Canberra jockey Quayde Krogh will take the ride.
"She does go back so the barrier won't be too bad," Gorrel said.
"We'll go back and ride for a bit of luck. The other thing is she wants a dry track so hopefully it's not any worse than what it is now (soft five)."
Wagga trainer-jockey Mick Travers also has Mathrin engaged in the race but she has come up as the third emergency. Jay Ford is booked to ride.
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PROMISING Canberra galloper Kelvedon Road took out a hot Wagga barrier trial on Sunday.
Boasting three wins and three seconds from 10 career starts, Kelvedon Road suggested he's in for a good preparation as he worked home stylishly to take a half-length win.
Albury mare Well In Sight led and ran second. She wasn't asked to extend in the straight, while third placegetter Participator wasn't overly extended either.
Kelvedon Road is the sixth emergency for Saturday's $100,000 TAB Highway Class Three Handicap (1300m).
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ALBURY trainer Mitch Beer will send Well In Sight to Kembla Grange on Saturday.
Beer is confident Well In Sight will run a much-improved race when she contests the $40,000 Benchmark 64 Handicap (1200m).
Well In Sight, who won her first three race starts, resumed with a disappointing eighth-placed effort in a Highway at Rosehill on July 2 but has since been working well alongside Sunrise Ruby at home.
Beer has also nominated Power Me Up and Zidler for Kembla Grange.
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WHAT'S ON
GALLOPS
Saturday: Narrandera (TAB)
Tuesday: Albury (TAB)
TROTS
Friday: Wagga (TAB)
Tuesday: Young (TAB)
DOGS
Friday: Wagga (TAB)
Tuesday: Temora (TAB)
