Hallowed Crown showed plenty of heart to record a narrow win in a thrilling edition of the 2015 Hobartville Stakes at Rosehill Gardens this afternoon.

Hallowed Crown got his nose in front in the final stages of the 2015 Hobartville Stakes at Rosehill Gardens this afternoon. Photo by: Steve Hart

The Hobartville Stakes was packed full of quality and the race more than lived up to the hype when Hallowed Crown, Shooting To Win, Sweynesse and Kermadec fought out the finish in the final 100 metres.

Hallowed Crown looked as though he was going to fade late to finish fourth, while Sweynesse and Kermadec flew home the outside late, but jockey Hugh Bowman was able to pick the Golden Rose Stakes winner off the deck to score the toughest of wins in an outstanding finish.

Shooting To Win beat Hallowed Crown in a barrier trial in the lead-up to the Hobartville Stakes, but an James Cummings said that the Street Sense colt took a great deal of benefit from the trial and the emotional trainer said that Hallowed Crown’s will to win is what got him over the line in the final stages of the race.

“We took him to that 1000 metres barrier trial and we don’t normally trial horses with his sort of profile over five furlongs first-up because he is not a five furlongs horse, but he showed every indication that he needed it,” Cummings said.

“Some people had some doubts because of, but he trained on from that trial and he had an exhibition gallop seven days ago and absolutely scorched the track.

“While you come here with confidence, but when you walk into the mounting yard it was like a stallion roster and full credit to horses like Sweynesse, Shooting To Win and Scissor Kick because they are going to be hard to beat in two weeks.

“What my horse has is a winning attitude and he bulldozed Tommy Berry out of the way, pulled himself off the canvas and hit the line really well.

“He has the record that any three-year-old colt in the country would be very enviable of right now and what  a thrill it is to win it for my grandfather and Sheik Mohammed.

“The race in two weeks (the Royal Randwick Guineas) will mean more than this, but this puts the writing on the wall and there is not much between the three of them, but my horse has a fantastic attitude and has done everything right in the lead-up to this.”

Jockey Hugh Bowman settled Hallowed Crown in a lovely position in the early stages of the Hobartville Stakes and his tough riding helped get the three-year-old over the line, but he was quick to pay credit to the training performance of James Cummings.

Bowman was most impressed with the toughness that Hallowed Crown showed in the final stages of the race and believes that the colt will prove very difficult to beat in the Group 1 Royal Randwick Guineas (1600m) in a fortnight.

“I would like to congratulate James and Bart, but James is hands on with the stable,” Bowman said.

“He has given this horse one trial and he was thinking about going to the Apollo last week, but it was full of weight-for-age stars, so he opted to wait a week.

“For a young man early in his career to be dealing with a horse like this is a credit to him and a credit to all his staff.

“I would respect this is the beginning of a big campaign for the horse.”

The likes of Hallowed Crown, Sweynesse, Shooting To Win will all clash in what should be a stellar edition of the 2015 Royal Randwick Guineas.