If racing awarded a daily prize for the biggest turnaround of the day, yesterday’s would have had to go to Bella Romance. In fact, if there was an all-time award in that category, the 2-year-old filly by Bahamian Squall might have that one wrapped up, too.

    Bella Romance made her career debut at Gulfstream Park on Aug. 15 and walked out of the gate. By the time they hit the first quarter, she was 25 lengths behind, and when the winner reached the wire shortly thereafter, Bella Romance was 72 lengths back, more than justifying her odds of 62-1. 

    Yesterday, with the track listed as sloppy, the filly bred by Judy Karlin had a new rider, apprentice Franklin Calles, who had all of five victories listed on his resume, three of them coming this year. With his apprentice allowance, his filly was carrying 111 pounds, seven less than each of her 10 rivals. When the gate opened, the youngster shot Bella Romance to the lead and she never left any doubt about the outcome, posting fractions of :22.51, :45.66 and 1:12.24 en route to a six-length victory in 1:19.54 for the 6 1/2 furlongs. 

    Bella Romance was sitting at 50-1 on the tote board, but only because at that price odds only change in increments of 10, and she was really 56-1. She lit up the board at $114.80, $49.20 and $32.00, along with a $1 exacta of $461.90 and a 50-cent trifecta of $1,455.25. She earned a check of $14,220.

    A thousand miles up I-95, Bahamian Squall had another winner, the 4-year-old gelding He’s On the Fly, who scored by 3 1/4 lengths under Walber Alencar at Presque Isle Downs. With a significant difference on the tote board, he paid $4.80, while collecting $8,400. He’s On the Fly also went wire-to-wire, getting 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:03.64, just 1 1/2 seconds off the track record. The two victories gave Bahamian Squall 21 winners for the year.