Shooting To Win and Hallowed Crown are both available at 2015 Royal Randwick Guineas odds of $3 and are locked in a battle for favouritism in betting markets for the Group 1 event at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
Shooting To WIn is currently an equal favourite in 2015 Royal Randwick Guineas betting markets with Hallowed Crown. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Hallowed Crown stamped himself as one of the best three-year-olds in Australia when he took out the Group 1 Golden Rose Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill Gardens during the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival and he made a winning return to racing in the Group 2 Hobartville Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill Gardens on February 21.
The Street Sense colt opened at a quote of $2.90 in Royal Randwick Guineas betting markets, but has now drifted out to a quote of $3 to deliver Team Cummings their first win in the Group 1 event.
Shooting To Win was sent straight to the spelling paddock after he took out the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) in October last year and he returned to racing with a fighting fourth in the Hobartville Stakes.
The Northern Meteor colt loomed as the winner of the Hobartville Stakes at the 100 metre mark, before he tired in the final stages of the race, but jockey Blake Shinn is confident that the three-year-old can run out a strong mile in the 2015 Royal Randwick Guineas.
“I galloped him this morning and he has made good improvement,” Shinn told TVN earlier in the week.
“I felt that he had the race won at Rosehill first-up, but just fitness gave out the last 100.
“I thought that his run had a lot of merit and he got beaten by a lot of good horses.
“With good improvement, Saturday looks a really good race for him second-up, up to a mile.”
Sweynesse hit the line very strongly in the Hobartville Stakes and is currently priced at $4 to record a maiden win at the highest level of racing this weekend.
The John O’Shea-trained galloper performed well without winning in his previous race starts at Group 1 level in the Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) and Cox Plate (2040m) and is sure to be hitting the line strongly in the final stages of the race.
The only other horses that is available at single figure Royal Randwick Guineas odds is Paul Messara-trained Scissor Kick, who has remained steady at $5.50 since the Royal Randwick Guineas final field was released yesterday.
Scissor Kick did not have a great deal of luck when he finished fifth in the Hobartville Stakes and he has finally been allocated a good barrier after having no luck with barrier draws in his previous starts at Group 1 level.
There has been a sprinkling of support for Rhodin Drive ($81) in the Royal Randwick Guineas betting market with Ladbrokes, while Preferment ($51) and Sworn To Silence ($17) have both remained steady at their original quotes.
