There is no trainer more thankful than Ray Ashford that the turf course was shut down by Remington Park when it was this fall.

After that, he sent Dipping In to the main dirt surface here and she went 2-for-2, including a win in the $70,000 Useeit Stakes on Friday, December 18, her first black-type victory. This stakes triumph came after 12 career starts on turf courses.

Bred by Center Hills Farm, Dipping In was sold by Legacy Bloodstock at the 2017 Keeneland November sale and is one of two stakes-winning Legacy KeeNov grads on the weekend. The following afternoon, 2016 grad Sleepy Eyes Todd ran earned his second graded stakes victory in the Mr. Prospector S. (G3) at Gulfstream Park.

Dipping In was the best in this one-mile event for Oklahoma-bred 3-year-old fillies, stopping the timer in 1:40.69 over the fast track, taking the stakes by a full length over Polly Tiz. Dipping In gave leading rider David Cabrera the third of his 4 wins on the card as he continues his march to a third straight riding title with four days of racing remaining in the season.

A daughter of Lea, out of the Runaway Groom mare Soloing, was previously trained by Doug O’Neill on the East and West Coasts. Dipping In was given October off and then showed up in Ashford’s barn in Oklahoma City. Dipping In ran fourth on the grass here in her first effort, but only lost by a 1/2-length in a blanket four-horse finish. She then moved to the dirt, sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs, and drew away with Ramon Vazquez in the saddle to win by 4 lengths. Vazquez had no mount in the Useeit.

Dipping In went off at 7/2 odds in the wagering and paid $9.40 to win, $5.40 to place and $2.80 to show. Polly Tiz (25/1) was second, a 1/2-length ahead of the betting favorite She’s All Wolfe (3/5), who had a 3-race win streak broken, settling for third.

Special Treasure set the early pace in the Useeit, handling a 1/4-mile in :24.96 before giving way to Polly Tiz who reached a 1/2-mile in :49.16 and 3/4 of a mile in 1:13.95. Dipping In gained control of the race in the final yards.

Dipping In earned $42,000 and now her running lines are 16 starts, 3 wins, 1 second and 3 thirds for $129,308 earned. She is owned by Ron Stolich of Lodi, California, and was bred in Oklahoma by Center Hills Farm’s division in Pryor, Mighty Acres. It was Cabrera’s second win in the Useeit, also having won aboard Bella Paella in 2015.

The Useeit Stakes is named after the Oklahoma-based broodmare who produced Black Gold, the winner of the 1924 Kentucky Derby.

– edited from www.racingdudes.com