Real Surreal has provided veteran trainer Kelso Wood with reason for an overdue celebration on Queensland’s richest day of racing.

In a gripping finish, Real Surreal helped bury a Gold Coast hoodoo for Wood when she won the Magic Millions Classic on Saturday.

“It’s been 25 years since I won and lost the last one but I’m not going to lose this one,” Wood said after his filly claimed the $2 million race.

Wood trained Prince Regent who was first past the post in 1988 but lost on protest to Molokai Prince in a decision that still creates heated debate.

“I was a bit concerned when they straightened up because I was hoping we’d be coming down the outside but she got a good passage through and she’s a great filly,” Wood said.

Wood isn’t one for sentimentality on a racetrack but admitted he was struggling to keep a lid on his emotions.

“I’m dying for a drink right now I can tell you,” he said.

Winning jockey Michael Cahill said Real Surreal ($5) was awkwardly placed on the home turn but was confident she could win once she burst through a gap in the straight.

“Ticket To Toorak was in front of her and laying in and out which made things difficult for me but there was a narrow gap that I was able to navigate her through,” Cahill said.

“Fortunately the gap widened enough and I was confident I had the race in my keeping at that point.”

Real Surreal overhauled Sweet Idea ($9) in the final stages to win by a short neck with the favourite Missy Longstocking ($4.60) 1-1/4 lengths away third.

Wood will spell Real Surreal and has put any thoughts of a Golden Slipper campaign on the backburner.

Damian Browne blamed a tardy getaway for Missy Longstocking’s defeat but praised the filly’s tenacity.

“She’s got a tendency to miss the start and she did that again today,” he said.

“She was following horses that were knocking each other down and she got held up behind them.

“When she got to the outside she really let down and it was a gutsy effort.”

Rich Lore-Lacy was mystified by the run of Clevadude who also missed the start and was never a winning hope before finishing fourteenth.

Jockey Craig Newitt told stewards Clevadude ($5) never handled the clockwise racing direction.

“He didn’t jump away cleanly and was on the wrong leg for the majority of the race,” he said.

The race was run with the pre-post favourite, the Sydney-trained filly Assail.

Assail was scratched in the morning when she was found to have a foot abscess.