Rising three-year-old Vatican Storm has broken the unbeaten streak of Hot And High in the Listed $125,000 Raconteur Stakes (1400m) at Belmont with the finish so close it took minutes to decipher who had won.

At $3.60, the son of Playing God was the only horse in single-figure resistance to Hot And High ($1.70f) and began neatly to grab her coattails, finding the ideal position in the one-out, one-back trail.

It remained that way until the 600m pole when Clint Johnston-Porter eased the big bay around that runner’s heels to make a three-wide line on the final bend.

From that moment, the two waged a rancorous dispute and went blow for blow up the home straight before Vatican Storm finally loomed to take the ascendancy with less than 50m to run.

With 20m to go, he seemed to have the momentum and looked a certain winner but Hot And High would not be easily turned aside and fought furiously to recapture the initiative in the final few bounds.

A stride before the post, Vatican Storm was in front and a stride following, Hot And High was leading, leaving punters in suspense for two and a half anxious minutes.

But with a fine-tooth comb, the judge finally found a sliver in the former’s favour to the delight of successful trainer Stefan Vahala.

“I was saying to the boys then that we haven’t won a photo finish for four years, so we were a bit worried, but it was awesome,” Vahala said.

“You get these top jockeys like Clint, and they just find a way to get the right run in the race. He just produced him beautifully.

“Without going overboard, he definitely has Group 1 ability. He’s that level of horse – not saying he’ll win a Group 1 – but he’s better than Aztec Ruler, anyway, put it that way.

“He’s a real big kid. I think in 12 months’ time, we’ll really see the best of him.”

Vahala, starting to make his mark in the WA trainer’s ranks, won both the Bunbury Stakes and Carbine Club at Listed level with Aztec Ruler in 2024.

“We’ve got some really nice horses there and I think the next two years are going to be special,” he said.

“But just to get a Listed win on the board is huge.”

Johnston-Porter admitted he wasn’t sure the seesawing stretch struggle with Hot And High had gone his way.

“50 out, I was pretty confident I was going to hold her off,” he said.

“But coming to the line, it was starting to kick back on me a little bit and it made it very interesting.

“I didn’t know and normally a good tell is to have a look at the cameras (to see which runner they are focussing on) but we were both next to each other going past the camera, so it was a bit hard to tell.”

The leading hoop said the way the race developed gave him a chance of beating the hot fancy.

“It panned out better than I expected it to. I thought she was going to lead, and she would just run away from me,” Johnston-Porter said.

“But she ended up right in front of me and I just had a perfect run into it. I let him track into it a bit earlier than I normally would just so I didn’t have too much ground to make on her.”

Vatican Storm will now aim at the Belmont Guineas (1600m) in a fortnight.

“He’s a nice horse and every time I’ve ridden him, he’s just gotten a little bit more professional,” Johnston-Porter said.

“He floats around, and he was stopping down the back looking at the cranes and stuff, so he’s a curious character but he’s got lots of potential.

“My partner (Jorja King) has had a bad injury and she’s on the couch watching this, so hopefully that’s cheered her up.”