For Immediate Release – Oklahoma City, OK, July 25, 2024 – The 2023 Horse of the Meet, Miss Code West, returned to Remington Park, breezing on the work tab last week and trainer Kevin Scholl said it was a positive move.
“She told me she was glad to be back at her track,” said Scholl, 64, who sent her out four times at Remington Park last year and she won all four, including three stakes races. Miss Code West breezed three furlongs in :38.19, fourth fastest at that distance on the morning of Saturday, July 20 with jockey Floyd Wethey, Jr., in the saddle. He has ridden her to six wins in eight starts lifetime for $236,334 in earnings. That’s not a bad haul for a filly that was bought by owners Jeffry and Julie Puryear of Denton, Texas, for $12,000 out of a Texas Yearling Sale.
“Floyd just loves her,” said Scholl. “On the track, she is smart and has a lot of class. In the barn, she can be sort of a witch. Snip. Kick. You name it.”
Her connections deal with it when they have the real thing on the track, winning stakes after stakes, and knowing how to get that nose down at the wire first. Last year at Remington, this Oklahoma-bred daughter of Code West, out of the Kipling mare Inca Miss, broke her maiden at first asking on Oct. 5 as a 2-year-old. She was bred in-state by Bryan Hawk.
Scholl had no problem with entering her immediately into stakes company after her maiden win as she was an easy winner by 1-1/4 lengths at six furlongs. She quickly rewarded her connections with a win in the $76,000 Oklahoma Classics Lassie Stakes for 2-year-old Oklahoma-bred fillies at six furlongs. Again, she was not pushed to the wire, winning by two open lengths. That led to another start against Oklahoma-bred 2-year-old fillies in the $50,000 Slide Show Stakes. She stretched out for the first time, winning that mile dirt race by 5-1/4 lengths as the 3-5 favorite.
Now the big question came up. Could she tackle open company? Kentucky-bred fillies and such in the top race for open 2-year-old fillies on the closing night of the meet – the Trapeze Stakes?
“She just kept getting better with every out, so it wasn’t a question for me,” said Scholl. “And on that night, we knew she was on her game and was going to run big.”
Eighteen-time training title holder here, Steve Asmussen, shipped in the even-money favorite Tx Women for Arts for the Trapeze, but Miss Code West still said, “See ya, wouldn’t want to be ya,”drawing off to win that one-mile race on the dirt by 6-3/4 lengths as the 7-5 second betting favorite. That gave her an undefeated season at Remington Park and Horse of the Meet honors.
“I didn’t really expect that, but I’m so glad she did,” said Scholl, a former jockey who makes his home in Stephenville, Texas, about an hour south of Fort Worth.
When interviewed after winning the Trapeze (which has been changed to the Toby Keith Stakes now), Scholl said Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark., was a possible next stop, but those plans changed.
By the time Miss Code West ran her next race, she had been moved to Sam Houston Race Park in Texas where Scholl was training.
“The Fair Grounds stakes coordinator called us, looking for horses for the $145,000 Silverbulletday Stakes (on Jan. 20),” Scholl said.
Miss Code West took her first loss, finishing fourth in that spot when nationally acclaimed trainer Brad Cox entered a bear of a 3-year-old filly named West Omaha, who went off 4-5 in the race and won by five lengths.
“She was a real scorpion and just won for fun,” Scholl said. “We just missed third in a photo, but I was happy with the way she ran. She lost by a head for third and probably a half-length for second.”
Miss Code West was sent back to Houston and entered back on March 23 in the $106,500 Texas Thoroughbred Association Oaks which she won by 2-1/2 lengths. She then shipped to Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, for an open allowance race for 3-year-olds-and-up, fillies and mares, at 1 mile-70 yards. Again, she smoked her company by 1-3/4 lengths as the 4-5 odds-on choice.
Proving everything she needed to on dirt, Miss Code West was then entered in the $200,000 Ouija Board Stakes on the turf at one mile at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.
“The owner wanted to see if we had another option with her, but she did not like the grass at all,” said Scholl, who watched Miss Code West finish eighth over the lawn. “She just didn’t have the same kick she showed on the dirt.”
For the upcoming Remington Park meet that begins Friday, Aug. 16 and concludes Friday, Dec. 13, Miss Code West will likely run in the $50,000-estimated Oklahoma Stallion Handicap for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs on Friday, Sept. 6.
“Then we are looking at the $200,000 race for 3-year-old fillies (the Remington Park Oaks at 1-1/16thmiles on Friday, Sept. 29),” he said. “We’ll have to run her with older fillies and mares in the Oklahoma Classics Distaff (on Oct. 18) because there isn’t anything in the Classics for 3-year-old fillies alone.”
Scholl couldn’t be more excited about seeing how she does in her return to Oklahoma City as a 3-year-old.
“Floyd (Wethey, Jr.) said he was very pleased with her breeze the other day,” Scholl said. “I didn’t tell him how to work her, but I’ll take his word for it.”
WEDNESDAY MORNING TRAINING
Dancininthecountry earned her second bullet workout of the pre-meet on Wednesday, covering five furlongs in 1:00.28 along with Isaidwhatisaid, who tabbed the same time. They were two fastest of 10 horses that tried five-eighths of a mile on Wednesday.
Dancinininthecountry, a 4-year-old Oklahoma-bred filly by Backstabber, out of the Curlin mare Market Wizard, worked a half-mile on July 17 in a bullet :48.36, the fastest of nine that day. She is trained for owner-trainer-breeder Boyd “Jobe” Caster. Caster bred her in-state with his wife Beth. Dancininthecountry is one-for-two lifetime with $18,515 in her bankroll.
Caster also trains Isaidwhatisaid, a 4-year-old gelding by Code West, out of the Tactical Cat mare Cottonmouth Brown. He is owned by Caster and Diego Juarez Gonzalez. He was bred in Oklahoma by Caster and Hawk. In nine starts, Isaidwhatisaid has won one, finished second twice and third once for $19,096 in earnings.
The bullet workers for a half-mile and three furlongs on Wednesday were Even Terms (:47.85 handily) and Jacob’s Prince (:47.85 handily) and Naval Woman (:35.10 handily).
The Thoroughbred Season at Remington Park begins Aug. 16 and continues through Dec. 13.
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Remington Park has provided more than $354 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District, Remington Park presents simulcast racing daily and non-stop casino gaming. The 2024 Thoroughbred Season will begin on August 16. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.