Highwaytothemoon turns back Military Time in Queenston Stakes

Highwaytothemoon did more than steal the Queenston Stakes at Woodbine. He showed that he can control a seven-furlong race from the front, absorb a serious challenge and still finish with enough left to turn back the 4-5 favorite, Military Time, by 1 1/4 lengths.

That mattered because the $125,000 Queenston for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds has become one of the first real sorting tests on the road to the 167th King’s Plate on Aug. 15. On June 7, with six runners in the field, Rafael Hernandez sent Highwaytothemoon sharply away, let him settle into moderate fractions and never surrendered the rail-based initiative. Thundermaker tracked second, Military Time saved ground in third, and the favorite finally tipped out under Fraser Aebly at the quarter pole to make his run.

The response from Highwaytothemoon was the race’s defining image. He had already put up opening splits of 23.06 for the quarter and 46.45 for the half-mile, and when Military Time came calling in the stretch, the gelding by Ransom the Moon out of High Society Gal found another gear. He stopped the clock in 1:23.25, earned $75,000 and collected his first career stakes victory, a result that immediately reshapes the look of Woodbine’s developing sophomore division.

Military Time had arrived with the more imposing résumé, fresh off a 4 1/2-length allowance win in 1:24.21 at seven furlongs and backed by significant market confidence after his $350,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland yearling sale. Kathryn Sullivan had called that last effort “a very strong effort from start to finish,” and the Queenston showed why the colt was expected to be a major factor. But even after Aebly angled him wide for the stretch drive, Military Time could not overhaul the leader.

The deeper significance may be in what Highwaytothemoon is, not just what he won. Dale Desruisseaux said after the race that the colt is likely a one-turn horse and may not want the King’s Plate distance, a note of caution that tempers any immediate classic-distance projection. Still, that does not diminish the value of the performance. In one clean front-running score, Highwaytothemoon stamped himself as a serious sprinting force and a live summer player, while Hernandez and Desruisseaux completed a weekend stakes sweep after winning the Fury Stakes with Piper’s Gift the day before.