Racing
Barber ready to snip Canterbury Stakes
Warwick Farm trainer hoping set a good tone for 2026.
After promising filly Caffe Florian gave Richard Litt's stable a thrill when winning the Gosford Guineas on Sunday, it is an older warrior who could do the same in the Canterbury Sprint on New Year's Day.
Barber joined Litt's care in April and the former Godolphin galloper has not missed a beat since making the move.
Barber will start from barrier 1 in the 15-runner field for the listed 1200m feature in Sydney on Thursday and Litt is positive about the five-year-old especially as he has competed at high levels though his career.
"What a wonderful horse to have in the stable," Litt said.
"He's going very, very well and he's been great to his owners. You know, they're very hard races to win all the time. Those sorts of black type listed sprint races are so competitive."
Litt's links with the Godolphin team has helped in the transition which has seen wins delivered in the Listed Takeover Target Stakes (1200m) in May.
"We have a very good connection with Godolphin and their horses and their staff," Litt said.
"So we always keep an eye on these horses and Monarch Racing bought him and paid a lot of money ($215,000) in December last year."
"He's going to pick up a couple of more wins and he's going to be a load of fun over the next 12 to 18 months.
"We love him. We absolutely love him."
Among his seven runners on the card, Litt also has Tutto engaged in the Ranvet Plate (1900m) who he expects to run well and need a 2000-metre trip together with Tennessee Dolly in the Hyland Race Colours Plate (1200m) who he says has been unlucky in recent runs.
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