By Jonny Turner
A host of feature races await To The Moon And Back following his outstanding victory at Gore on Sunday.
The progressive trotter repaid the faith his team have had in him when dispatching his opposition despite sitting parked for driver Kerryn Tomlinson.
To The Moon And Back was bred by Lex Williams who races the three-year-old with a group of enthusiastic owners.
Trainer Brad Williamson and the ownership group can target a host of lucrative group races for three-year-old trotters, with To The Moon And Back’s manners catching up with his untapped ability in his recent victories.
And it has led to the trotter now being a part of the richest of those upcoming feature races in Australasia – the $500,000 The Ascent.
“Lex and the owners have been able to get him into the slot race, which is pretty exciting,” Tomlinson said.
“We have always liked him but he has been a work in progress.”
“Most of the other three-year-olds all raced as two-year-olds and have had a lot of mobile racing.”
“Whereas, we only saw the mobile for the first time at the trials the other day.”
“He was pretty green when he first started racing but he has kept learning with every race he’s had.”
“He’s getting better all the time, so hopefully by the time he races the better three-year-olds his ringcraft will be pretty good.”
Some of To The Moon And Back’s early placings before he broke maidens were among the biggest efforts seen in Southland this season, suggesting the trotter has the motor to compete at Group level.
Those efforts were marred by errors, but there were no signs of mistakes in the three-year-old’s Gore victory.
“Once he is going along he is great and he was like that today,” Tomlinson said.
“He hung a little bit, probably just with the tighter track and the windy conditions.”
“But he was really happy out there and it was a nice win.”
With his great recent form, To The Moon And Back has put himself right in Harness 5000 contention.
The three-year-old is eligible for one of the $60,000 finals of the inaugural series at Ashburton in December with his Gore outing completing his five starts needed during the qualifying period.
