Gias Surreal is quickly becoming the dominant damsel at Buffalo Raceway, collecting her second straight win in the $11,500 Open Pace for fillies and mares with a half-length victory over Hey Kobe in 1:54.2 on Wednesday night (July 1).
Just making the third start of her four-year-old campaign, the favoured Gias Surreal ($4.60) had little problem rallying to victory.
Lady London (Ray Fisher Jr.) set the splits with times of :28, :57 and 1:25.2. Midway down the backstretch the final time, Gias Surreal was stuck behind dull cover and had to tip three-wide with a panel to go.
In the stretch, Gias Surreal (John Cummings Jr.) was just too powerful for Hey Kobe (Drew Monti) and Lady London, who had to settle for second and third, respectively.
The victory moved Gias Surreal (So Surreal-Nancy Irene), whom trainer Jim Graham co-owns with Ed Peron, Tom Mariano and Lee Winters, to $12,380 in seasonal earnings and $163,940 in her career.
The heavily favoured Victoria Swan ($2.90) played 'catch me if you can' in the $10,000 Class A-AA Handicap Trot, and no one was up to the task.
Scoring from the rail, Victoria Swan had little trouble in turning back Empire Earl N (Jim Morrill Jr.) by a half length in 1:58.4. Call My Broker (Dan Yetman) took the show spot.
After relinquishing the lead early on to Empire Earl N, Victoria Swan used a big backside brush to take command and never looked back. A :58.1 last half was enough to dash the hopes of the remaining six participants.
Trained by Sabrina Shaw for RBH Ventures Inc. and Spagnola Racing LLC, Victoria Swan (Swan For All-Victoria Sahbra) triumphed for the third time in 10 tries this season. The five-year-old mare now has $16,854 in winnings in 2020 and $113,854 lifetime.
Monti and Fisher finished the evening with triples, while Morrill and Billy Davis Jr. doubled. Rich Mays, Darrin Monti and Gerry Sarama each conditioned two winners.
Racing will continue on Saturday evening (July 4), with a 13-race program beginning at 6 p.m.
(Buffalo Raceway)