3 minute read

The Hanson family is one of the most liked and cherished in Tasmanian thoroughbred racing circles so when a lightly raced gelding named And Beyond scored an impressive win in the Craig Hanson Memorial in Launceston on Saturday night there was hardly a dry eye in the place.

And Beyond is trained by Ken And Tanya Hanson and Craig Hanson was Ken's son and Tanya's brother who lost his life resulting from a race fall in Launceston in 1983.

The gelding was ridden by Kyle Maskiell who is Ken Hanson's grandson, so the win was very much a family affair.

And Beyond scored an impressive win on debut in late October last year, after which he was given a spell, but Tanya Hanson said the gelding was given a good hit-out in a trial last week to have him ready for this latest assignment.

"We've always had a good opinion of this horse and a couple of us believe he could be the best we've trained," Tanya Hanson said.

"We put him away after his debut win and last week his trial was exceptional, so we thought he would be very hard to beat tonight."

And Beyond ($4.40) drew a wide gate but Maskiell was able to urge him forward to take a spot outside of the leader I'm A Floozy ($5) with the well-backed favourite Coronation Keith ($2.90) camped just off the speed on the rails.

When Maskiell asked And Beyond for an effort he gained the upper hand and forged clear over the concluding stages to defeat Reward Achiever and Coronation Keith.

And Beyond had a rough start to his racing career, having cracked a sesamoid as a two-year-old that led to almost 16 months away from racing.