Duke to employ patient policy with Pride Of Pimlico Brendan Duke is keen to take small steps and get more experience into Pride Of Pimlico before stepping him up in class. After making a winning debut over five furlongs at Naas on Sunday, the son of Casamento is earmarked to run at Navan on April 23 over the same trip ahead of potential outing in the Listed Marble Hill Stakes at the Curragh the following month. Duke said: "I thought he was very impressive on Sunday. He was very fit, but he had never been on the grass. "I thought he was very professional in the race and you could have called him the winner a fair bit out as it was pretty obvious nothing was going to come past him. "We are going to go for a winners-of-one race at Navan on April 23 and if that goes well, we will obviously go for the Marble Hill Stakes after. "With these babies, I am inclined to pick their fights if I can and I think it would be a big jump up from winning a maiden to go straight to the Marble Hill. "He is not short of speed and Navan is a similar track to Naas, so that should suit him. He would like better ground as well as he just coped with that better than the others at Naas." Having sold last year's flagbearer Warm The Voice to continue his racing career in Hong Kong, the Curragh handler hopes his full-brother Vocal Duke can fill the void after being encouraged by his home efforts. He said: "Vocal Duke has done amazingly well in the last month. He has got exactly the same temperament as Warm The Voice and he is a carbon copy on the gallops and in the stables. "That doesn't mean to say he will have the same amount of ability, but he is going the right way at the moment."
