Screamin Nina makes noise in $100,000 Hoosier Heartland at Horseshoe Indianapolis

Screamin Nina and Irving Moncada scored their third straight win during Friday’s Patriots Day at Horseshoe Indianapolis. The duo covered the one and one-sixteenth mile event in a time of 1:46.42 to improve their record to five of eight for 2026.

Screamin Nina was ready to go out of the gate and used early speed to get good positioning as Seeyouinabit and Joseph Bealmear challenged Prayer Unbridled and Joe Ramos for the top spot early in the route race.

Prayer Unbridled held the inside with Seeyouinabit right to her outside, pressing the pace to the half. Screamin Nina sat third and showed a lot of patience in the first half of the race.

In the final turn, Moncada gave Screamin Nina the signal to go and she made her presence known with a bold move around the top two, sliding over to the top spot before the stretch drive appeared. As she moved forward, so did race favorite Itzforever and Marcelino Pedroza Jr., who were tracked closely by Innisfree Lass and Alberto Burgos.

In the stretch, Screamin Nina drifted to the center of the track midway through the lane. Itzforever saved ground along the inside for Pedroza Jr. Those two had placed themselves ahead of the rest of the pack. Screamin Nina continued to gauge the wire and held her ground to win by one and one-half lengths. Itzforever was an open length second place finisher over Innisfree Lass, who closed for third.

“I was coming around and I was right on top of the speed and I knew she could go like 47 or 46, so I just let her go and let her loose,” said Moncada about the move in the last turn. “I am really happy to just be on her and get the win today.”

Screamin Nina paid $9.40 for the win. She is a homebred daughter of Turbo Compressor and was bred, raised, and is owned by David Hearn. Steve Fosdick trains the four-year-old filly, who went over the $200,000 mark in career earnings with the win, her first step up into premier racing action and her biggest paycheck to date in her young career.

She was unraced as a two-year-old for Hearn, longtime owner, and breeder in the State of Indiana.

“I thought the race set up perfectly for her,” said Fosdick in a post-race interview with Matt Carothers, guest racing analyst for Patriots Day. “I thought the three (Itzforever) was going to close or come closer, but this filly hung on. She did slow down a little in the lane. She does that sometimes. She gets out in front, and I think her ears start moving back and forth and she thinks it’s over.”

Fosdick has had the filly from the beginning of her career. Her dam, Northern Screamer, won eight races and more than $250,000 for Hearn during her racing career before becoming a brood mare.

“She (Screamin Nina) has just matured a lot this year and is carrying her weight real good,” noted Fosdick. “She was sick off and on last year and when she was good, she raced well. I’m hoping to find an Indiana bred stakes for her toward the end of the meet.”

The Shelby County Post is a digital newspaper producing news, sports, obituaries and more without a pay wall or subscription needed.