Batavia, NY – On a night that produced a litany of longshots overall, there was none that could top the dividends realized from a driving double turned in by Kyle Swift at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Oct. 8) night.
Swift’s two wins came with Filet Mignon in the eighth race that paid $55.70 and KB Mac in the ninth race who returned $40.36, both for a $2 win bet. But those races also made up the late daily double and the Swift/Swift combination of 5 and 8 returned an instant jackpot valued at $3,653.38.
The 20-year-old Kyle Swift is a fast rising star at Batavia Downs, where he has become a sought-out catch driver. He currently sits in seventh place for dash wins this meet, now with 34 after Wednesday’s double.
The feature race of the night was the $12,500 Open handicap for fillies and mares that was won by Gia’s Surreal (Kevin Cummings) who moved late for a narrow victory.
Elegant Woman A (Drew Monti) grabbed a quick lead and was pressured by the parked-out Alabama Hannah (Joe Chindano Jr.) through quarters of :27.4, :57.4 and 1:27.1. When Elegant Woman A finally put away Alabama Hannah, Gia’s Surreal was three-wide and flying and hooked up with Elegant Woman A in the last turn. The two mares separated from the field as they entered the stretch and then matched strides all the way to the wire where a photo showed that Gia’s Surreal had pushed to the front by a nose and won in 1:55.3.
It was the 44th lifetime win for Gia’s Surreal ($7.82) and pushed her impressive career bank to $1.02 million for owners Edward Peron, Lee Winters and Jim Graham, who also trains the winner.
Gia’s Surreal was one of six winners who returned for pictures under the guidance of Kevin Cummings, who also won with Wasn’t Me (1:57.3, $20), Tres Chic Bluechip (1:56.3, $13.62), Medeena (2:00, $7.22), American Jazz (1:57, $13.62) and Alwaysanun (1:56.3, $41.78). The six wins brings Cummings’ total to 59 for the meet and moves him into fourth place on the leaderboard.
Jim Graham and Tom Mays topped all trainers on Wednesday with two wins apiece.
Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Friday (Oct. 10) with post time at 6 p.m. and there will be a carryover of $947 in the Pick-5 wager in the first race, and track management has announced that the pool will be guaranteed at $5,000 through the United States Trotting Association’s Strategic Wagering program. That means full past performance program pages for those races will be free to download (when available) courtesy of TrackMaster at ustrotting.com under the Handicapping tab.
There is also a $2,010 carryover in the Jackpot Super Hi-5 pentafecta in the 13th race.
Free full card past performance programs for every live card of racing at Batavia can always be downloaded at The Downs’ website (bataviadownsgaming.com) under the “Live Racing” tab. Then you can watch all the races live as they happen for free on the Batavia Downs YouTube page.