off to the races

• away at the races, away to the races, off at the races

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off to the races

1. (idiomatic) In or into a process of energetic engagement in some activity; in or into a phase of conspicuously increasing satisfaction or success.
   • 1964 July 10, “Industry: Top Money”, in Time:

     Last week the magazine's tenth annual rating of the nation's leading corporations showed that American business really went off to the races in 1963.

   • 1994 June 3, Leonard Pitts Jr., “Movies”, in Milwaukee Journal, retrieved 26 August 2012, page 21E:

     48 Hours […] was followed by hits such as Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop and Raw. Eddie Murphy's career was off to the races.

   • 2004 Jan. 19, Janet Maslin, "When the High and Mighty Tumble, Duck and Cover" (Book review of The Best Awful by Carrie Fisher), New York Times (retrieved 26 Aug 2012):

     And with that, this tartly funny book is off to the races, inviting readers to tag along on a wild manic ride.

• get carried away
• off and running
• in the running

• “off to the races”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.