Leading form analyst Adam Blencowe has Shooting To Win on top of his 2015 Royal Randwick Guineas tips and he believes that the talented colt can improve significantly on his first-up effort in the Group 2 Hobartville Stakes (1400m).
Shooting To Win is one of the three leading contenders in the 2015 Royal Randwick Guineas. Photo by: Steve Hart
Shooting To Win was well-backed in the lead-up to the Hobartville Stakes at Rosehill Gardens on February 21 and he looked like the winner at the 200 metre mark before he appeared to tire late to finish fourth behind Hallowed Crown, Kermadec and Sweynesse.
Blencowe told RSN that there is very little between the talented trio of Shooting To Win, Hallowed Crown and Sweynesse heading into the Group 1 Royal Randwick Guineas (1600m), but Blencowe believes that the Shooting To Win can go to another level when he steps-up to a mile this weekend.
“They are very smart colts,” Blencowe said.
“From a betting perspective there is not much between them and it is pretty clear that the Hobartville is the race.
“I think that Shooting To Win is the one that is open to big improvement from that first-up run.
“We saw when he came down to Melbourne in the spring and went to the mile he just exploded to beat Rich Enuff there in a strong run race and ran great figures.
“That is actually the best performance, in our opinion, by a three-year-old this season.
“I think that he blew out over the last 200 in the Hobartville and he fared the worst of the three that lined up here, but I think that he is the one most likely to come out and win this.
“I think that he can explode off that first-up performance and be pretty hard to beat here.”
While Blencowe believes that Shooting To Win is the horse to beat in the Royal Randwick Guineas, he still has a great deal of respect for Hallowed Crown and Sweynesse and expects the trio to fight out the finish of the Group 1 event.
Blencowe is confident that Sweynesse will be savaging the line late, but he believes that the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas (2000m) is a more suitable race for the son of Lonhro.
“Sweynesse will certainly be coming at them hard and the Rosehill Guineas looks ideal for him next up,” Blencowe said.
“I think that trio will probably fight it out and they have a little bit of an edge on the others.
“They are all Group 1 class and we are looking at a terrific race, but from a betting perspective it is tough.”
Shooting To Win and Hallowed Crown are both available at 2015 Royal Randwick Guineas odds of $2.60 and are still locked in a battle for favouritism from Sweynesse ($3.40) and Sworn To Silence ($13).
