Oklahoma City, OK, December 16, 2024 – Miss Code West put in a bid for her second Horse of the Meet award at Remington Park, winning her third stakes race of this season, taking the $50,000 Useeit Stakes with ease, drawing off by 8-1/4 lengths as the heavy wagering favorite at 1-9 odds.
The only race Miss Code West lost this season was the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks on Sept. 29 against open-company, when the shipper Alpine Princess came in for one of the nation’s top trainers, Brad Cox, to win that stakes, while Miss Code West checked in second. Alpine Princess’ next start was a near-win in the Grade 3, $194,000 Comely Stakes when she ran second, beaten only a head at Belmont at Aqueduct on Nov. 30. She lost by a head to Pretty Anna in that New York effort.
Miss Code West piled up three stakes wins – the $50,000 Oklahoma Stallion Stakes on Sept. 6 by 5-1/4 lengths, the $111,000 Oklahoma Classics Distaff on Oct. 18 by four lengths and the Useeit Stakes on Friday night. All three wins were against fellow-Oklahoma-breds.
Floyd Wethey, Jr., the regular rider for Miss Code West, had her under wraps for the last sixteenth of a mile. This 3-year-old filly by Code West, out of the Kipling mare Inca Miss, finished the one mile over a fast main track in 1:39.52. Wethey placed her third down the backstretch and made his move as she began to track the leaders in the far turn. By the time Miss Code West hit the top of the stretch, she had a three-length lead.
The pacesetter in the race, Low Euro Cat (56-1 odds) had carved out interior fractions of :25.16 for the first quarter-mile, :49.03 for the half-mile and 1:13.69 for three-quarters of a mile. Miss Code West hit the next pole in front, going seven-furlongs in 1:26.15.
Miss Code West paid $2.10 to win, place and show. Letta’s Legacy (8-1 second betting favorite) was second, another 4-3/4 lengths ahead of third-place finisher Devious Diva (112-1). The rest of the order of finish was Code of the South (125-1) fourth, Blue Moon River (125-1) fifth, C W Charm (44-1) sixth, Okie Magic (54-1) seventh and Low Euro Cat last.
Coming into this meet, Miss Code West’s trainer Kevin Scholl was confident she would return to form despite her running eighth in the $200,000 Ouija Board Distaff on the turf at Lone Star Park on May 27. Once Scholl worked her over the Remington Park dirt surface for the first time this fall, he came back all smiles.
“She told me she was glad to be back at her track,” Scholl said. “On the track, she is smart and has a lot of class.”
Miss Code West earned $30,000 from the purse for her owners Jeffry and Julie Puryear of Denton, Texas, and improved her career marks to 12 starts, nine wins, and one second for earnings of $390,934. She was bred by Bryan Hawk. The Puryears bought her out of a Texas yearling sale for $12,000, which is proving to be the bargain of the decade.
It was the first win in the Useeit Stakes series for all the connections.
The Useeit Stakes is named after the Oklahoma-based broodmare from the early 1900s who produced Black Gold, the winner of the 1924 Kentucky Derby. Both Useeit and Black Gold were owned by Oklahomans Al and Rosa Hoots.
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Remington Park has provided more than $370 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 year-round simulcast racing and casino gaming. The 2025 American Quarter Horse Season will begin on March 6. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
