Richard Litt enjoyed immediate success with Barber during the sprinter’s first campaign under his care, and he is hoping the former Godolphin galloper can launch his second preparation in similar fashion.

The Exceed And Excel five-year-old is set to resume in Saturday’s $300,000 The Warra (1000m), the key speed event on The Gong program at Kembla Grange.

Purchased for $215,000 via Inglis Digital late last year for Monarch Racing, Barber made an immediate impact for Litt, winning the Listed Takeover Target Stakes at his second outing for the stable before finishing third in the Listed Ramornie Handicap at his latest run. Litt said he is thrilled to have the gelding back.

“He’s a wonderful horse, he did his job in his first preparation with us, paying his owners back immensely, so if we can knock off one or two more races he’s really done his job,” Litt said.

“We’ve had this race in our sights for a very long time. We purposely tipped them out at the right time, he had a good spell, he’s come back and he’s come back very, very good.”

Previously trained by James Cummings, Barber was a $1 million Golden Gift winner and took out the Group 3 Blue Diamond Preview. His lead-up work for this return has included two steady trials at Warwick Farm, finishing sixth in both, which was exactly what Litt wanted.

“We’ve mindfully kept him very, very fresh,” he said.

“He’s a horse that can be a little bit lazy and very unassuming in his work, but we also needed to do enough with him to make sure that he’s ready for game day.

“I was very happy with his trials, he’s come through them very well and he’s ready to rock and roll.

“He probably isn’t a true 1000-metre horse but I think the race will map out wonderfully for him. It’ll probably be on fast enough ground, at a fast tempo, he’ll be just in behind the speed and you know he’s going to get a good crack at them late.”