Best known as the trainer of two-time Group One winner and Cox Plate runner-up Castelvecchio, Richard Litt has tasted the highs that racing can offer.

He also knows they don’t last forever.

With Castelvecchio now enjoying a new chapter at stud, Litt has reverted to his bread and butter – tried racehorses.

The Warwick Farm trainer estimates 80 per cent of his stable are horses who have begun their careers elsewhere, including the five he will saddle up at Rosehill on Saturday.

Four of them are former Godolphin gallopers, including his three Midway Handicap contenders Catapult, Wander and Sedition.

But his Lynette Lamphee Memorial Handicap runner Morton’s Fork is arguably the greatest advertisement for Litt’s former Godolphin brigade.

“They’re wonderful to buy from, you know what you’re getting and they’re very honest,” Litt said.

“It might take a couple of runs to work them out, but once you’ve got a grip on them, they’re really good horses.

“Morton’s Fork is a Godolphin horse, he’s been wonderful. AndMaster Shuhood is an ex-Waller horse, so they’re all tried horses running on Saturday.

“If I didn’t have them, I wouldn’t have five runners in town on a Saturday.”

Winning the Group Two Sandown Guineas for Godolphin in 2016, Morton’s Fork has been in Litt’s care for the past two seasons and has been a great money-spinner for connections, capturing the 2019 Listed Christmas Cup and managing six minor placings.

Litt has modest ambitions for the rising eight-year-old and stable debutant Master Shuhood but expects them to prove competitive in town once they stretch out in journey.

“With these old boys, you’ve just got to take every day as it comes and see if you can pick up one nice race, or a country Cup. A Port Macquarie Cup or something like that is what we’d like,” he said.

He is particularly happy with Morton’s Fork and while Saturday’s race is a starting point, he expects the horse to improve rapidly once he gets up to a middle-distance.

“We’ve given him a very long spell, we’ve taken him along slowly, his trials have been OK and he’s jumping out of his skin,” Litt said.

“He doesn’t love a soft track but he needs to go around. Once he gets out to 1800 or 2000, that’s when you’ll see him at his best.”

Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au