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By Julieanne Horsman

Tumut trainer Kerry Weir won his home town cup with Universal Pack in 2011 and has three chances to do it again this Saturday.

He’ll saddle up Bondo, Sand Dune and Hercule’s Horse in the 1400m feature of the meeting, which was rescheduled from February due to extreme heat.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a $5,000 race or a $500,000 race, your home town cup means more than anything else and I’d love to win it,” Weir said.

He declared Sand Dune the classiest of his three horses but Bondo the best chance.

The six-year-old gelding drops back to 1400m which is his ideal distance and will carry 3kgs less than last start with apprentice Megan Taylor’s claim.

“He’s got his regular jockey back on and this track suits his racing style,” Weir said. “It favours frontrunners with its tight, short straight.”

Sand Dune has been aimed at this race but despite being at his home track he won’t necessarily have an advantage.

“He tends to get back and run home and that’s harder to do at Tumut, but the recent rain has made the track a heavy 8 which will work in his favour,” Weir said.

“The 1000m race which Hercule’s Horse was in last start was too short but I’ve been having trouble finding suitable races for him. He missed a Gundagai due to the wash out.”

Weir has three other runners on the day and is confident Zorba will be hard to beat.

“He won at this distance in this class at Tumut towards the end of last year,” he said. “Emerald Ice was disappointing at Wagga last start and Weekend Getaway is racing for the first time in a year so I am not expecting any miracles."

The Tumut Cup meeting has received strong acceptances with all races bar one either at capacity or one off capacity.

It’s set to be a great day out with pop up food outlets, bars, entertainment, a fireworks display and free entry for all.

On Friday night the traditional Calcutta will be held at Tumut Golf Club from 8pm.

View the fields and form for the Tumut Cup meeting here