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By Ray Hickson

He’s a real work in progress but trainer Richard Litt believes lightly raced three-year-old Black Duke has the scope to develop into a more than handy galloper for his owners.

Trainer Richard Litt (Pic: Bradley Photos)

The son of Fiorente has to date won one of his six starts but he's only raced twice as a gelding and Litt will march him straight into a stakes race if he’s successful in the Schweppes Handicap (1400m) at Randwick on Saturday.

Litt is eyeing a Group 3 race in Brisbane on January 2 and longer term the Group 2 Hobartville Stakes (1400m) in February to see if he’s carnival material.

“He’s a lovely horse, a progressive horse, quite slow learning and he’s slowly putting it all together,’’ he said.

“He’s been gelded nine to 10 weeks now and he’s still a little bit silly but he’s improving every day and that’s what you like to see.

“I think he is a quality horse and we’re going to give him his chance.

“He’s definitely got a lot of sharpness about him, so I’m not sure how far he will get out to.

“I’d love him to be able to stay a Derby trip but time will tell. On his pedigree you’d think he will stay all day.”

Black Duke's first start as a gelding was an eye-catching fifth over 1000m at Warwick Farm then two weeks ago he was touched out by Oscar Zulu over 1300m at Rosehill.

Litt said he couldn’t have been happier with both performances and especially how he rallied when he saw Oscar Zulu a couple of horses to his outside in the concluding stages.

“I thought it was a terrific run and he was unfortunate not to win,’’ he said.

“He had the horses covered on both sides and Tom (Sherry) said he didn’t see the other horse coming.

“He’s drawn quite well but I think we won’t be riding him too positive. Let him settle and we won’t bustle him too much. It’s not his grand final.’’

The trainer did express some caution if Randwick did happen to race in the heavy range, despite Black Duke ($8 with TAB) having a heavy 8 win on his CV from August, but a soft track would see him offer no excuses.

“I think he is probably better on top of the ground but he will go around and we’ll see how we go,” he said.

Meanwhile, the $1.9 million Deep Impact colt purchased by Ottavio Galletta, who was the owner of Litt's former star Castelvecchio, at the 2020 Magic Millions sale has been named Profondo and Litt said he’s taking his time with the youngster.

Black Duke runs second at Rosehill on December 5

Profondo, out of former smart filly Honesty Prevails, is currently in the spelling paddock but will be back at Warwick Farm early in the new year.

“He’s had a couple of good preparations, he’s an absolute ripper of a horse, we’re giving him a bit of time,’’ Litt said.

“Last prep we got him right up to jump out stage and he was going great and he’s had a good spell now. The Gallettas are so good to train for, they don’t put any pressure on.

“We’ll let him find his feet, it’s unique to have a horse of that calibre and to have no pressure. If that means he races as a late two-year-old that’s fine by them.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's meeting at Randwick