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Lexington, KY — Hot Mess Express has won all 10 of her starts this year at Harrah’s Hoosier Park, but the 3-year-old filly pacer arguably appears to have her work cut out for her if she hopes to make it 11-for-11 in Friday night’s (Nov. 5) $120,000 USS Indianapolis.
The race is one of four stakes events on the card for 3-year-olds that also includes the $220,000 Monument Circle for male pacers, the $165,000 Carl Erskine for male trotters, and the $105,000 Crossroads of America for filly trotters.
“I think (the USS Indianapolis) is the best race on the entire card,” said driver Yannick Gingras, who will be behind Blue Diamond Eyes in the USS Indianapolis.
Also on the 14-race card are six races designated as memorial events for deceased horsemen, with two each for Richard Macomber, Brad Hanners and Eric Ledford, the latter passing away just a few weeks ago on Oct. 14.
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As for Hot Mess Express, who is listed as the 8-5 morning-line favorite from post four with driver John DeLong in the USS Indianapolis (race 11), she will take on the likes of the Ron Burke-trained duo of Jugette winner Scarlett Hanover (post eight, 5-2) and Kentucky Sires Stakes champ Blue Diamond Eyes (post three, 4-1), and recent Irish import Oakwoodannabella (post six, 5-1), whose seven U.S. starts this year include a Hollywood Dayton track record for female pacers (1:49.3) as well as a second in the Courageous Lady and a third in the Jugette final.
Showing the division’s prominence this year, stars missing from the race include recent Breeders Crown champion Test Of Faith, currently the top-ranked horse in the weekly Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll, Fan Hanover winner Fire Start Hanover, and Lynch Memorial winner Grace Hill.
“It’s a very tough year for fillies; there are a lot of good fillies out there,” said Hot Mess Express’ trainer Tony Alagna. “It’s been a great bunch of fillies racing and I don’t know how many will come back (in 2022), but ours is coming back for sure.”
While trainer Brian Brown elected to not supplement Oakwoodanabella to last month’s Breeders Crown at The Meadowlands, he raced her instead in an Oct. 29 Big M overnight, where she captured the $36,000 event in 1:51.3.
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Scarlett Hanover, who followed up her Jugette score with a second and first (a career-best 1:50.4 effort in the Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final) at Woodbine Mohawk Park, finished second by a length to Test Of Faith in the $600,000 Breeders Crown after trainer Ron Burke accepted a bye and passed on the eliminations. Blue Diamond Eyes, who was third in her Crown elim, finished fourth in the final.
As for Hot Mess Express, she comes into the USS Indianapolis riding a five-race win streak — all at Hoosier Park as the odds-on 1-9 favorite — that includes the Indiana Sires Stakes final. The daughter of Panther Hanover’s last two starts have resulted in Pegasus and Circle City scores, bringing her overall career slate at Hoosier Park to 17-12-3-0, with $574,565 in earnings. The total represents 75.5 percent of her career total of $760,699, the bulk of which was amassed for owner Sam Bowie, who privately purchased the filly pacer in July 2020.
In 2021, Hot Mess Express has started 15 times, with 13 wins and one second, that coming in the $335,750 Fan Hanover at Mohawk Park. She has only one off-the-board finish, that being a sixth in the $250,000 Lynch Memorial in late August at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
“Other than the start at Pocono when her bloodwork came back so poorly, she’s stayed sharp all year,” said Alagna. “She’s fairly easy on herself and travels well, and that makes a big difference.”
Tim Tetrick picked up the drive behind Scarlett Hanover for her wins in the two-heat Jugette, and after she returned from the two-race stint in Canada, he picked up the mount again for the Breeders Crown. Starting from the outside post 10, Tetrick and Scarlett Hanover followed the live cover of eventual winner Test Of Faith to come up just a length shy of the win. Charted eighth at the half, Scarlett Hanover paced a back half of :54.1 and last quarter of :26 to secure runner-up honors.
“I thought her race was super; she raced excellent,” said Tetrick. “I drove her first in the Jugette when she won in straight heats, and when she went to Canada I didn’t go, but I got her back for the Breeders Crown and she raced super.”
As for starting from post eight in the USS Indianapolis, Tetrick isn’t concerned.
“She’s got gate speed when you need it,” Tetrick said about the daughter of Bettor’s Delight whose career earnings stand at $853,856 for owners Burke Racing Stable, Frank Baldachino, J&T Silva-Purnel & Libby and Weaver Bruscemi. “I didn’t use it (in the Breeders Crown) because I was in a good spot to follow the best horse. It’s a great group of fillies this year, that’s for sure.”
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Blue Diamond Eyes comes into the USS Indianapolis as the fastest sophomore filly pacer this year. The daughter of Captaintreacherous won a Kentucky Sires Stakes Championship Series leg on Sept. 12 in 1:47.2, and then she followed that up one week later with a 1:47.4 effort to capture the $250,000 final. Those two efforts are one-two on the divisional speed list, with Hot Mess Express’ 1:48.3 clocking in the Mistletoe Shalee on July 17 at The Meadowlands tied for third with Test Of Faith.
Although Blue Diamond Eyes hasn’t won in four starts since, including her fourth-place effort after a first-over journey in the Breeders Crown, driver Gingras said she has held her form.
“I came first-up last week (in the Breeders Crown) and I was hoping for a little better trip than that, but other than that she’s been racing really good,” said Gingras about Blue Diamond Eyes, who has amassed career earnings of $1,058,464 for owners Tom and Scott Dillon. “We raced her from behind the week before and she wasn’t finishing as good even though she finished third by a neck, but we made a bridle change last week and it worked pretty good. We put a flip-down bridle on her to open and close her up to get her attention better.”
Racing begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. For complete entries, click here.