LAST YEAR’S CHAMPION HORSE OF MEET, MISS CODE WEST, STAYS UNBEATEN AT REMINGTON WITH FOURTH STAKES WIN IN A ROW

Miss Code West ran her streak to four stakes win in a row at Remington Park with a victory in the $30,000 Oklahoma Stallion Handicap for 3-year-old eligible fillies on Friday night. The victory gave her five wins in a row at this track where she is unbeaten.

The 3-year-old Oklahoma-bred filly by Code West, out of the Kipling mare Inca Miss, was the Champion Horse of the Meet at Remington Park in 2023. Miss Code West was voted the top honor after winning the $76,000 Oklahoma Classics Lassie, the $50,000 Slide Show and the $75,000 Trapeze. The first two stakes scores were against Oklahoma-breds, while the Trapeze was an open-company victory.

The only questions were whether Miss Code West would be the same horse as last year in her first start at her track of preference at a distance she had never raced – seven furlongs. Miss Code West answered those questions and all others at the top of the stretch when she began to roll. Xyngin Spitfire (7-1 odds) set a blistering pace with early fractions of :22.95 for the first quarter-mile, :46.26 for the half and 1:10.83 for three-quarters of a mile. Still, jockey Floyd Wethey, Jr., tapped Miss Code West once and she responded like the champion she is. She drew away from the front runner to win by 5-1/4 lengths. Xyngin Spitfire, the second favorite in the race was well beaten, but she finished 17-1/4 lengths ahead of third-place finisher Devious Diva (31-1). Miss Code West’s winning time was 1:23.66 over the fast main track.

“I had no doubt,” said Wethey, who made this the third of five wins he would garner on Friday night at Remington Park. “I wanted her to be a bit closer at first, and she broke poorly, but I wasn’t really worried. Just biding my time.”

Trainer Kevin Scholl, who only has six stalls on the backside, knew Miss Code West was ready for this.

“She let me know the first time I worked her (here this summer) that she was glad to be home,” Scholl said. “She has been really smart since Day 1 and now she has matured mentally and physically.”

Wethey said the ceiling isn’t high enough for this winning filly.

“There is no telling how good she can be,” said her rider. “She has absolutely improved this year.”

Miss Code West was sent off as an overwhelming 1-9 favorite and paid $2.10 to win, place and show.

She earned $18,000 for the win and improved her record to seven victories from nine starts, for earnings of $254,334 in a career that has just begun. That’s not a bad number for horse owners Jeffry and Julie Puryear of Denton, Texas, who handed out a measly $12,000 for her at sale. She was bought in the 2022 Texas Thoroughbred Association Yearling Sale. Scholl is thanking his lucky stars that the Puryears appeared in his life.

“I didn’t really even know them and he just called me up out of the blue one day,” Scholl said. “He liked my (winning) averages and just brought some horses to me. She happened to be one of them.”

Asked where Miss Code West would run next, Scholl indicated that the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks on Sunday, Sept. 29, was not out of the question. The race is the main event on the undercard for Oklahoma Derby Day.

The complete order of finish after the top three were Rainbow Angel (20-1) fourth and Ready (23-1) fifth.

Miss Code West was bred in Oklahoma by Bryan Hawk.

Remington Park racing continues Saturday, Sept. 7 with a first post time of 6:30 p.m. CDT.

Remington Park has provided more than $357 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 continues through Dec. 13. The Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby takes place on Sunday, Sept. 29. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.

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