Longford trainer and part-owner Tanya Hanson said vets gave the horse only a 40 per cent chance of racing after breaking a sesamoid bone as a two-year-old.

But he beat those odds - and the bookies' odds of $21 - when he snuck home by a half head over short-priced favourite Supalopo.

"We had him ready to race as a two-year-old and had a bit of an opinion of him until he did the sesamoid," Hanson said.

"We put him out for 14 months and brought him up really, really slowly.

"But we've had a few (other) problems along the way.

"When he loses balance, he hits inside his elbow with his back foot so we've had to have our farrier do a lot of work with him.

"We even had shoes sent down from Sydney so it's taken a lot of work to keep him healthy."

Hanson said And Beyond's breeder Ian Creese, who retained an ownership share, would be rapt with the result.

"He lost the horse's mother a couple of weeks ago and has got an orphan brother to this fella so this result is a good story," she said.

Kyle Maskiell worked to the lead from the widest barrier on And Beyond but Supalopo got an inside run on the home turn and hit the front before And Beyond fought back.

Spreyton trainer Adam Trinder couldn't be happier with star mare Mystic Journey leading into the $1 million Empire Rose at Flemington on Saturday.

"She's in great order, she's drawn well in barrier 5 and (jockey) Kerrin McEvoy won't do anything wrong by her," Trinder said.

"She'll get the opportunity to file-in in the second half of the field then step to the outside in the straight and build.

"So fingers crossed."

Mystic Journey will travel to Melbourne on the Spirit Of Tasmania on Thursday night.

She is $4.60 second favourite in the latest markets behind 1000 Guineas winner Odeum at $3.60.

Meanwhile Trinder had mixed luck in the early races at Mowbray.

After Supalopo went down narrowly in the first, he bounced back to win the Ladbrokes Maiden with four-year-old gelding Wardell, having only his second start.

Wardell was a late-pick-up ride for Brendon McCoull after Trinder's stable apprentice Thomas Doyle had to miss the meeting due to illness.

Trinder said Wardell's owners Debbie Thompson and Allan Howard had been very patient and had been rewarded with a win in a race carrying $20,000 in Tasbred bonuses.

"These bonus races are worth targeting and we'll look for another one over 1600m for the horse's next start," Trinder said.

"He's very well bred being a full brother to Royal Rapture (a winner of 15 races and $600,000)."

"Brendon won a lot of races on his grand-dam Royal Egypt and also won on Royal Rapture."