Holywell takes win streak into Saturday’s $700,000 Sunshine Millions Preview Day Bad Debt Back on Familiar Turf for $100,000 Millions Turf Preview Defense

MIAMI GARDENS, FL – Having swept two-thirds of the Florida Sire Stakes series for 2-year-old fillies, Holywell looks to make it three stakes wins in a row in Saturday’s $100,000 Juvenile Filly Sprint, one of seven stakes on the Sunshine Millions Preview Day program at Gulfstream Park West.



Bred and owned by Tracy Pinchin and trained by her husband, Jose, Holywell has won three of four starts since finishing third in her debut on June 14 at Gulfstream Park.

“She is doing great,” Jose Pinchin said. “She has done everything we want her to do.”

Each of Holywell’s first five races have come at Gulfstream Park, including a June 28 maiden victory going 5 ½ furlongs. Sixth following a tough trip in the Desert Vixen on Aug. 9, she rebounded to win the seven-furlong Susan’s Girl by a nose at odds of 41-1 and the 1 1/16-mile My Dear Girl by 1 ¼ lengths on Oct. 4. Both victories came over Moment of Delight, who also is set to return in the 6 ½-furlong Juvenile Filly Sprint.

“She’s got speed and she’s kind of a versatile horse,” Pinchin said. “She’s been good right through. I bred her and we’ve actually liked her since she was a baby. She’s a big, pretty, athletic filly and she’s got a good head on her. We’ve had some good ones, but she’s a real nice horse.”

A daughter of stakes winner Exclusive Quality, Holywell is the third winning foal out of unraced Gold Case mare All Saint’s Day, Pinchin said.

“She is her second stakes winner and the other one is an allowance winner, so she’s been well-bred,” he said. “It means a lot. The family’s looking a lot better. I still own the mare, and I’ve got a yearling colt and a weanling colt. We want her to do well.”

Holywell drew Post 6 in a field of 12 and will be ridden by Orlando Bocachica, who was aboard for each of her two stakes wins.

“She doesn’t need the lead, but she’s going to be right there,” Pinchin said. “She’s got as much speed as any of the horses in there.

In all, the Jamaican-born Pinchin entered four horses on the 10-race card, including Catfight Cowgirl, making her stakes debut in the one-mile, $100,000 Juvenile Filly Turf. She broke her maiden on her third try, a two-length victory going five furlongs on the Gulfstream Park turf Oct. 4. “She’s a homebred also, and we have to give her a shot,” Pinchin said. “She’s run three good races and has been right there. She probably should have won the second race she ran. She had a little bad luck, but she came right back and won.”

Purchased for $31,000 at Ocala’s April 2-year-olds-in-training sale, Morgans Harbour steps into stakes company off a professional neck victory on Sept. 7 at Gulfstream Park, cutting back from seven to 6 ½ furlongs for the $100,000 Juvenile Sprint.

A son of multiple Grade 2 winner Graeme Hall, Morgans Harbour will break from Post 8 under jockey Luis Saez in a field of nine.

“He’s a nice colt,” Pinchin said. “He had some hoof issues, but we’ve straightened him out. We ran him the first time and he won first time out. His numbers were good, so we’ll give him a shot here. The horses that ran second, third and fourth that day came back and won, so it was a good race.” Pinchin will also saddle third-time starter Dance of Freedom in Saturday’s fourth race, a $34,000 maiden special weight sprint going 5 ½ furlongs on the main track.

Bad Debt Back on Familiar Turf for Millions Preview Day

Winless since last fall, Bad Debt will be back in familiar surroundings when he runs in Saturday’s $100,000 Millions Turf Preview at Gulfstream Park West.

The 1 1/16-mile event, carded third of 10 races on the afternoon, is one of seven stakes worth a total of $700,000 on the Sunshine Millions Preview Day program.

A 7-year-old son of Grand Reward, Bad Debt is 0-for-8 in 2014 and has not won in nine starts since his 6 ½-length romp in the Turf Preview on Nov. 9, 2013 at Gulfstream Park.

Most recently, the bay gelding came off a seven-week layoff to run second, beaten 1 ¾ lengths, in a 1 1/8-mile turf allowance on Oct. 9 at Keeneland.

“We brought him to Keeneland and he ran a good race for us,” trainer Mike Trombetta said. “We shipped him right from Keeneland down here. He’s doing well.”

Bad Debt is 2-for-3 lifetime at Gulfstream Park West, winning the 1 1/8-mile Bonnie Heath Turf Cup in 2011 and 2012. He also finished third in the Grade 3 Tropical Turf Handicap at the track last December.

Bred in Florida by Pennston Farms and owned by Robert Leibner, Bad Debt has hit the board in 41 of 55 lifetime starts, including 14 wins and $758,170 in purse earnings. “He’s just one of those solid, hard-trying horses,” Trombetta said. “Being a turf horse, he’s not running 20 times a year so we kind of spread the schedule out the best way we can for him, and that’s kept him around a little longer.”

Trombetta lost Bad Debt to an $80,000 claim out of a one-mile turf race on July 9 at Belmont Park, but claimed him back for $62,500 in his subsequent start, a fourth-place finish on August 23 at Saratoga Race Course.

He will break from outside post eight in the Turf Preview with jockey Paco Lopez, who rode him at Keeneland.

“That’s a good spot for him. It should be fine,” Trombetta said. “It gives him a chance to kind of get where he needs to be, hopefully without being pressured by anybody else.”

Trombetta will also be represented on Saturday’s card by 2-year-old Giant’s Causeway gelding Diamondback in the seventh race, a $40,000 maiden special weight at 7 ½ furlongs on the turf. Diamondback was fourth and third, respectively, in his first two starts by identical 3 ½-length margins before failing to handle the sloppy, sealed main track at Gulfstream Park West on Oct. 23, a race originally carded for the grass.

“When we ran him last time, it got rained off the turf and he didn’t like it very much at all,” Trombetta said. “Hopefully, we’ll stay on the grass this time around and see if he can’t get back in the swing of things.”