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By Ray Hickson

They’re often called bread and butter horses, and trainer Richard Litt says a horse like Romeo’s Choice is so important to his stable.

The four-year-old has always been an honest customer but has stepped up this preparation and will chase his third win for the campaign in the James Squire Handicap (1400m) at Warwick Farm on Monday.

Litt concedes it is a step up in grade on his last start second behind Firestorm at Kensington a couple of weeks ago but the trade off is the 2.5kg drop in weight.

“He was fantastic last start, a very good run, I think he was beaten by a pretty good horse of Chris Waller’s,’’ he said.

“There’s a few nice horses in this race and he’s stepping up in grade but he drops quite nicely in weight.

“He’s a sure top three chance, that’s the sort of horse he is. You can go to the races and you’re not so nervous, he seems to always put in. Regan (Bayliss) really likes him and gets along with him well.”

Romeo’s Choice, $11 with TAB on Sunday, didn’t record his first win until his 12th race start and Litt said he’s been a slow maturer and that would explain his bumpy form early on.

Romeo's Choice runs second at Kensington on March 13

But there’s been no signs of that in the 12 months since that breakthrough as he’s gradually edged his rating upward and progressed through the grades.

He’s now won three of his 24 starts, with 13 other placings, and has collected just on $200,000 in prizemoney with the promise of more to come.

“We sort of came unstuck with him a little bit one preparation ago but he’s come back wonderful this time, he’s really grown up,’’ Litt said.

“I don’t know what happened, he just lost his form but he seems to have returned extremely well and his first-up win was excellent.

“He’s just gone on with it from there and has had a few good runs this prep.”

Litt has a long range plan with the four-year-old that will see him wrap his current preparation on Monday and be set for a summer campaign at the end of the year that the trainer hopes will see him really come of age.

“I’d like to think he’s definitely a Saturday horse, off season,’’ he said.

“He’ll go out after this run and have a good break, and come back for racing through November. We’ll stay out of the spring a bit and then find a nice race for him.

“It’s giving him a chance of winning a nice Saturday race, it’s so difficult this time of year and it seems to be getting stronger and stronger every year.

“We need to bring him back when everyone is heading to Queensland or tipping their horses out and try to strike then.”

All the fields, form and replays for Monday's Warwick Farm meeting