Harrah's Hoosier: Hot Mess Express reigns supreme in Nadia Lobell

Hot Mess Express, a three-time winner in the Indiana Sires Stakes program this year, added a Grand Circuit title to her resume by capturing Sunday evening's $110,000 Nadia Lobell for 3-year-old pacing fillies at Harrah's Hoosier Park in a life's-best clocking of 1:49 1/5.

With Andrew McCarthy in town to drive for trainer Tony Alagna, Hot Mess Express settled in fifth in the six horse field while Somethingbeautiful (Lewayne Miller), Grace Hill (Dexter Dunn), and Blue Diamond Eyes (Yannick Gingras) all showed speed. Grace Hill took over command from Somethingbeautiful passing the 25 4/5 opening quarter, but Blue Diamond Eyes pressed on two-wide and landed on the point after that marker.

Blue Diamond Eyes went on to hit the half in 54 seconds and the three-quarters in 1:22 1/5, but Hot Mess Express had made a first-over move into second at the latter station, and then she forged her way by Blue Diamond Eyes in the lane. From there, Hot Mess Express inched clear, going on to win by a length and a quarter over Grace Hill, who came up the passing lane in the stretch. Blue Diamond Eyes wound up third, followed by Somethingbeautiful, Summer Touch (Chris Page), and Continualou (David Miller).

"They were marching, so I just got away where I got away, and then when the brakes came on I had to move a little earlier than I like, but she was good. She's a very good filly," McCarthy said. "She's gotten a little smaller, actually (from earlier this year). She's in shape now. I remember I actually went and trained her at Tony's one day, and I sat behind her and I jogged up and caught up to Tony and I'm like, 'Who's this? I love her.' He's like, 'she's a Panther Hanover,' and I said, 'what?' Anyways, she's quite impressive, and I think she's going to be strong in the big races this year.

"She knows what her job is, but you've got to remember those fillies that she's going by are no slouches. They're very, very good fillies. No discredit to them, but she was just the best on the day."

Sam Bowie owns the victorious daughter of Panther Hanover, and she was bred by Amy, Madeline, and Ethan Giberson. Hot Mess Express has won all five of her starts this year, and she is now a nine-time winner in her career. She also increased her bankroll to $183,750 in 2021 and $318,815 lifetime. The 1-5 favorite, she paid $2.40 to win.