beat to it

Also, beat to the draw or punch . React more quickly than someone else. For example, The new salesman tried to serve one of my customers, but I beat him to the draw and Bill was determined to get there first and beat everyone else to the punch . The variants imply aggression to get ahead, draw alluding to the drawing of a pistol and punch to hitting with the fists. [Second half of 1800s]

Get ahead of someone to obtain something, as in There was only enough for one, so Jane ran as fast as she could in order to beat Jerry to it . [ Colloquial ; c. 1900]