Eccellere aims for back-to-back wins
Mature horses continue to provide the backbone for one of Sydney’s youngest trainers, although Richard Litt hopes this season will feature the introduction of new talent.
The 27-year-old, who has trained in his own right since his father Jim returned to New Zealand late last year, has unraced two and three-year-olds coming through at his Warwick Farm base, but for now the veterans spearhead his small team.
Eccellere, a last-start winner at Canterbury on July 26, returns to the scene of a rare triumph for the five-year-old mare on Wednesday where she again tackles her pet distance of 1100 metres when she steps up from a benchmark 67 to 77.
“She’s going good,” Litt said.
Eccellere has only won three times in 28 starts but tinkering with her training routine has yielded a win and two seconds in her past three races.
Litt was pleased the noted front-runner had drawn barrier nine while she should also benefit from the lightest weight in the nine-strong field with apprentice Deanne Panya’s two kilogram claim bringing her into the race with 51kg.
He also had Adaboy Ross set to line up in a Benchmark 73 Handicap (1550m) but the eight-year-old gelding wrenched a front fetlock joint during trackwork on Tuesday morning.
“He was having a bit of a buck and a play and he tripped over,” Litt said.
Litt has 14 horses in work and although eight-year-old mare Song And Laughter recently departed to become a broodmare, he hopes to have Il Mio Destino back racing after the seven-year-old is served by Vancouver.
“We mainly have a lot of older horses but I’ve got a couple younger ones coming through. Hopefully we’ll get something good out of them,” he said.