Trainer Mertkan Kantarmaci walking Evvie Jets after the 6-year-old mare arrived from Saratoga for Saturday’s $1.5 million, Grade 3 Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf. (Tim Wilkin photo)
Decision to not sell Evvie Jets could really pay off in Ladies Turf
By Tim Wilkin
FRANKLIN, Ky. — Just after 9 on Friday morning, Evvie Jets, a 6-year-old bay mare, poked her head out the door of the Sallee horse van that had carried her 14 hours from Saratoga to Kentucky Downs.
Michael Amendola, representing the Estate of Robert J. Amendola – his father – which owns the horse, was there to greet the horse as was trainer Mertkan Kantarmaci. Evvie Jets runs in Saturday’s Grade 3, $1.5 million Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf, and it will be an emotional day for Amendola.
His dad passed away right before Thanksgiving in 2022.
Michael Amendola said his dad left him, his sister Jennifer and mother Shelia a half dozen horses. Evvie Jets is the last one running.
“We think about him every day,” Michael Amendola said at the Kentucky Downs barn area. “In his heyday, he had 20-plus horses, and he had his ups and downs like many of us do.”
Evvie Jets, by Twirling Candy, was supposed to be done running last year when she was to be offered at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. She had finished third in the Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland in October and things changed. As the sale got closer, things really changed.
“The van was ready to take her over to Taylor Made (Farm) and my mom said, ‘take the shank off her and bring her back to New York,” Michael Amendola said. “It sure felt good. That is what my dad would have wanted done.”
Robert Amendola claimed Evvie Jets for $80,000 in September of 2021 and she rewarded the faith with six wins in 19 starts. This year, though, she is winless in three starts, two Grade 1 races and one Grade 2.
Evvie Jets, who will get jockey Flavien Prat in the mile Ladies Turf, is 12-1 on the morning line and will start from post position 11 in the field of 12.
In her last start, she was seventh in the Grade 1, 1 1/8-mile Diana at Saratoga on July 13; she was beat by three lengths.
“That was one furlong longer than what she can go in my opinion,” Kantarmaci, who is originally from Turkey, said. “She was behind a slow pace and that did not help us. All I can say about the Diana is that she tried. She gave us whatever she could.”
The Ladies Turf has been the goal for Evvie Jets since the start of the year.
This will be the first start ever at Kentucky Downs for Kantarmaci, who is based in New York. He was seeing the track for the first time on Friday morning, as was Michael Amendola.
“I think we have been facing tougher horses,” Kantarmaci said. “If she likes the course, I think we have a very serious horse in the race.”
For her career, Evvie Jets has raced 24 times on grass and shows seven wins, six seconds and two third-place finishes. Michael Amendola and Kantarmaci hope to see that record improve on Saturday.
“Some people call this place the field of dreams,” Michael Amendola said. “(Evvie Jets) has taken us around the country and has helped our family get over our loss and keep our tradition of racing going. We really are blessed.”
