Jim Graham is a longtime western New York horseman that has been training and racing at Batavia Downs since the 1980s. He has over 1,500 conditioning wins and in excess of $7.25 million in purses throughout his career. For a majority of that time, he has been a proponent of young horses targeted towards racing the full stake spectrum from county fairs to the New York Sire Stakes. But little did he and his partners Ed Peron and Lee Winters know that a little filly that they purchased five years ago named Gia’s Surreal would turn out to be a generational type of racehorse they would have a chance to race her back at their home track in the biggest overnight race ever held there.
The homecoming for Gia’s Surreal will be Friday night (Aug. 26) at Batavia Downs when she will face seven rivals in the $75,000 Robert J. Kane Memorial Invitational Pace.
Gia’s Surreal (So Surreal-Nancy Irene) entered the 2017 Morrisville College yearling sale as Hip number 2 and was purchased for $20,000 by Graham who broke and trained her until he was involved in an accident at Saratoga. She was then given to Brett Crawford who finished training her down leading up to her racing in the NYSS as a 2-year-old in 2018. That year she had a total of six starts in that series getting money in each and making the final where she finished fifth. But the filly never won a race in a total of nine starts in her freshman year.
Gia’s Surreal’s fortunes changed at three as she won four out of five NYSS Excel “A” races before finishing second in that final. She then transitioned into racing in the Open classes at Batavia Downs where she won three out of five to end the year that saw her in the winner’s circle 10 times.
After a delayed start due to Covid in 2020, Gia’s Surreal returned as an aged mare and eventually shipped north to Woodbine Mohawk Park where she ripped off three out of four wins while taking a lifetime mark of 1:51.4 in November. She continued to race in Canada until March of 2021 when the decision was made to add more tracks to her calendar in April.
“I thought she was a quality horse and I wanted to race her at Mohawk. But after she succeeded there we had high hopes that she could compete at the highest level. So we paid her into the Meadowlands events and Lexington and started making her schedule around those races,” said Graham.
Gia’s Surreal’s first start in New Jersey was a new lifetime mark of 1:50.3, a standard she would again lower to 1:49.3 later that year back at Woodbine. She was stellar at Yonkers and won the Open there in 1:52.1. And over the past two years she has made a plethora of stake starts on the Grand Circuit including the $160,000 Artiscape, $178,500 Dorothy Haughton, $191,050 Lady Liberty, $252,800 Roses Are Red, $189,600 Milton, $168,000 Dayton Distaff Derby, $175,000 TVG Mares final, $381,800 Blue Chip Matchmaker series, $100,000 Clara Barton and $100,000 Cleopatra Invitational.
The level of competition Gia’s Surreal has seen since 2020 is second to none. She has lined up against the likes of Lyons Sentinel, Racine Bell, Test Of Faith, Majorca N, Amazing Dream N, Rocknificent and Siesta Beach just to name a few. And at this top level to date she has amassed $713,380 in earnings from her 30 wins, 16 seconds and 16-thirds out of only 98 lifetime starts. That is just under a 30% win percentage and just over 60% in the money.
“She has been rock solid her whole career. We had a little issue with her front ankles late in the season last year and early this year she had a wall separation in her foot that caused her to miss two legs of the Matchmaker. But knock on wood, she’s been a very solid and sound mare,” explained Graham.
As for the Kane this week, Gia’s Surreal is only the second mare to compete in this race. Artistry In Rhythm started in the 2010 edition for driver Ken Holliday but did not fare very well, however that is nothing more than a footnote 12 years later. Gia’s Surreal is the third richest and second-winningest starter in this race and starts from post two for Hall of Fame driver Brian Sears. With her class and ability, there is no doubt that “Girl Power” could reign supreme for Gia’s Surreal on Friday against seven male rivals who would be at the top level of competition in any racing jurisdiction in North America.
“This is a great field of horses and it will be a true test of her savvy obviously, but we’re not afraid of anybody. When we were asked if we’d be interested in racing in here I knew that many Open male pacers would be entering the Canadian Pacing Derby eliminations so I was fairly certain that none of the top-top echelon Grand Circuit boys would be entered. So I said, sure we’ll come for it,” said Graham.
“She seems excellent coming in. She spent a few days at the farm, on the treadmill, in the field, and then she just jogged the rest of the week. I feel great about bringing her home and I’m glad I was asked to be here. It was an honor to be included with this caliber of horses.”
Moving forward Gia’s Surreal is paid into every major mares race until the end of the year. Next week she goes back to Canada for the Milton, then she will ship back to Dayton and then The Red Mile. Assuming that she’s still in top form, she will finish the year in the Breeders Crown at Mohawk and the TVG at the Meadowlands.
Post time for the special Friday card that also features New York Sire Stakes 3-year-old trotters of both genders vying for $232,700 in total purses is 6 p.m.
Photo courtesy of New Image Media
