Winning the Premier’s Cup will be the Litt family’s biggest success in racing.
Retired NZ dairy farmer Jim Litt established the stable at Warwick Farm in 2013.
His son Richard, a one-time foreman for Bart Cummings and John O’Shea, has been pivotal to the operation.
“We just potter along. It takes us all day but we love our horses,” Richard Litt said.
“We have 11 horses – that’s plenty for us.”
While she won’t be their first stakes runner, Song And Laughter will be their first winner if she can pull off an upset in the Listed Premier’s Cup (1900m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
“We’ve never really been too competitive in stakes races so hopefully it might be our day in the sun on Saturday,” Litt said.
Beyond the Premier’s Cup, Litt is looking at extending Song And Laughter to provincial Cups at Wyong and Newcastle on September 2 and 16 respectively.
“Saturday is probably a bit of stepping stone really,” Litt said.
“I really want to get her into the Wyong and Newcastle Cups and start pushing her out over a bit of distance.”
Song And Laughter arrived in the Litt stable after trainer Kevin Moses received a ban for a cobalt offence.
The mare’s owner-breeder Joe O’Gara died in April, leaving his wife Theresa to race their horses.
“It would be huge for her to win Saturday because she lost her husband,” Litt said.
“The horses were her husband’s thing so she’s taken over and to get a win for her has been great.”
The mare won at a Saturday meeting at Canterbury on July 23 before before finishing last in the Premier’s Cup Prelude on August 13.
Litt said a drying track and three weeks between runs counted against her in her last run at Rosehill.
“She loves a wet track, anything from a soft onwards and she’ll be very competitive,” Litt said.
Another ex-Moses trained horse O’Gara owns which is now with Litt is Singing Flame, a full brother to Song And Laughter.
The six-year-old gelding is Group Two placed and ran seventh in the 2014 Australian Derby.
“He’s very exciting,” Litt said.
“He’s four times as good as Song And Laughter if we can get him right.”
Litt said Singing Flame had not raced since May last year because of injury and he expected the horse to return to racing in December.
