In Brief
- Long wait worth it says trainer
- And Beyond defied a broken sesamoid to win on debut at four
- Gelding shows courage to fight back after being headed
Well-bred four-year-old gelding And Beyond had a tough start to life but in Launceston on Wednesday night he delivered a brilliant effort at his first race start to win a maiden over 1100 metres.
The Ken and Tanya Hanson-trained gelded son of Wordsmith was bustled early from a wide gate to lead and despite being headed in the home straight by the favourite Supalopo ($2), And Beyond fought back and hit the line a short half-head clear.
And Beyond was friendless in the betting easing from $10 to start a $21 outsider and co-trainer Tanya Hanson explained the issues the horse faced just to get to the races.
“We had this horse ready to trial as a two-year-old and we thought he was going to do well as a juvenile but he knocked himself and a scan revealed he had a broken sesamoid bone, so we had to tip him out for about 14 months,” Hanson said.
“He still has an ongoing problem in that he loses his balance sometimes when he knocks his hind leg due to his funny action, but we have him specially shod and that’s helped enormously.
“There have been some other issues but those have disappeared with age.
“It is such a great result to get him to the race let alone win on debut.”
And Beyond was ridden by Hanson’s nephew Kyle Maskiell who threw caution to the wind by firing the gelding from the gates to lead from a wide draw.
He drifted up the track rounding the home turn that allowed the favourite to hug the rail and assume control upon straightening, giving favourite backers reason to start queuing up to collect.
“He settled for me and traveled well to the 400m then he got the wanders turning for home but to his credit, he stuck to his task and fought on really well to win,” Maskiell said.
Watch And Beyond fight back to score an impressive win on debut in Launceston.