It's rare to find times in sport where the best meet the best at their peaks.
When it happens in racing the clashes become folklore.
Bonecrusher and Our Waverley Star in the 1986 Cox Plate, Black Caviar and Hay List and, of course, the famous quartet of Octagonal, Saintly, Nohin' Leica Dane and Filante in the Rosehill Guineas and AJC Derby of 1996.
These moments are fleeting and only happen on a couple of occasions but provide memories for years to come.
When Hallowed Crown won the Hobartville Stakes a fortnight ago, the comparison to Rosehill's most famous three-year-old race was impossible to escape.
Here were four outstanding three-year-olds going to the line at war with less than a length between them. This time the names were Hallowed Crown, Sweynesse, Kermadec and Shooting To Win.
It was like that famous Rosehill Guineas, but like is too strong a word for it according to John O'Shea, who prepared Hobartville runner-up Sweynesse.
"This lot aren't in the same ballpark," he insisted.
"You had a Derby winner [Nothin' Leica Dane], an Australian Cup winner [Saintly] and Octagonal, which had won the Cox Plate. They had done it against the older horses and it was exciting to be around.
"This is a good strong bunch but nothing like them."
Timeform agrees with Octagonal rated at 127 before his autumn of dominance after his Cox Plate win as a three-year-old, only Sweynesse has that form this year and he is at 120.
It has the feel of a vintage crop of three-year-olds, but they still have to prove it. And might in coming weeks
At the moment they not even in the same league as the All Too Hard and Pierro group of a couple of years ago, which were at 125 and 123 after the Cox Plate.
However, the similarities with 1996 are there for all to see.
O'Shea, head trainer at Godolphin these days, was working at Gai Waterhouse's stable and had a first-hand look at Nothin' Leica Dane. Bart Cummings, who is now in partnership with grandson James, prepared Saintly, while Peter Snowden was foreman for John Hakwes with Octagonal.
O'Shea admits back in 1996, Nothin' Leica Dane was always the support act.
"We were always hoping with him, never confident, how could you be, when you're taking on horses like Octagonal and Saintly we knew we were taking on the best," he said. "We knew how good they were."
He finds himself in a similar position with Sweynesse, which comes out of the same Crown Lodge stables as Octagonal.
"He is going to be better at the mile and then again at 2000m and with a bit of cut in ground," O'Shea said in assessing his three-year-old.
"I think if you are going to look at one being better than the others, it has to be Hallowed Crown – he has won five from six."
The temptation to run against the older horses is not as great these days unless young horses are proven at two. The Golden Rose and Caulfield Guineas provide such an avenue.
Hallowed Crown made his stud career in the Golden Rose, while Shooting To Win secured his future in the Caulfield Guineas.
However, the Hobartville did bring back good memories for Snowden, who trains with his son Paul at Randwick.
"It was like that Guineas the way they went across the line, you knew who had won but it was just a great contest," he said.
"This is different [for me] because I was always confident Octagonal was better than them.
"I was always very confident with him. Even though he only won by slender margin he always won. He was just the dominant one among those.
"No one has forced their dominance yet with this group and I hope it is mine on Saturday."
Hallowed Crown has twice been Shooting To Win's master. The Caulfield Guineas winner was third in the Golden Rose and fourth in the Hobartville
"My bloke has gone forward from that first run and always gets better with racing and I'm happy," Snowden said. "The others are probably the same and this is the group 1, which have been aiming at.
"He will have this race, then the George Ryder and the Doncaster and that's where he will be measured."
Like the Rosehill Guineas, the equine stars have the best on their backs. It was Beadman, Payne, Dye and Dittman in the saddle in 1996.
Now it is Hugh Bowman, James McDonald and Blake Shinn, all at the top of their games trying to outduel each other.
"I'm very comfortable with Hallowed Crown and wouldn't swap him," Bowman said. "He is a winner."
McDonald has the seat on Sweynesse, while Shinn calls Shooting To Win "exciting and untapped" despite his Caulfield Guineas victory.
But the final world has to go to another rising star. James Cummings knows of the legend of 1996 but his memories are clouded in his childhood.
"I was eight," he said. "I knew Saintly, it was probably the first Melbourne Cup winner of Bart's I can remember.
"Everyone in racing knows of Octagonal, Saintly, Nothin' Leica Dane and Filante. If this group can do a similar thing it would be great, especially if Hallowed Crown can keep stepping up. I think he can."
