Evvie Jets (Walter Wlodarczyk)
NYRA Press Office
OZONE PARK, N.Y.— The Estate of Robert J. Amendola’s multiple graded stakes winner Evvie Jets ran a pacesetting fourth last-out in the Grade 1 Just a Game, less than one-length back of the victorious Chili Flag on June 7 during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course and should return to the tab and subsequent stakes action shortly.
Trained by Mertkan Kantarmaci, the 6-year-old Twirling Candy mare gamely fought back on the front end to be defeated three-quarter-lengths by the closing Chili Flag, one of five Chad Brown-trained rivals in the seven-horse field.
Kantarmaci said despite missing the board, it may have been the veteran turfer’s best effort, including a rallying score in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa in August at Saratoga.
“She’s doing good. She’s going to have her first work back soon. In the Grade 1, she gave a big effort,” said Kantarmaci. “I think it was in my eyes, the best race in her career.”
After the strong effort, Kantarmaci said options are open, including a title-defense attempt in the one-mile Listed $150,000 Perfect Sting on July 4 at Belmont at the Big A or the Grade 1, $500,000 Diana on July 13 at The Spa.
“We have three or four total options that we are thinking about. I don’t 100 percent have a target for her, we will go by how she works,” said Kantarmaci. “[The Diana] might be one of them. There is also a race July 4 at one mile that she won last year, that might be another option.”
Evvie Jets boasts a record of 25-7-6-3 with $807,768 in earnings, including additional scores in the 2022 Grade 3 Noble Damsel and a Listed score last year in the Plenty of Grace.
Kantarmaci is also considering upcoming stakes action for last-out maiden claimer winner James Politano and S.O.K. Racing’s Drunk On Sake, who is nominated to Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Manila, a one-mile turf test for sophomores, at Belmont at the Big A.
After a distant finish in his May debut sprinting six furlongs in a local maiden tilt, the Yoshida dark bay returned for a pacesetting 8 1/4-length victory going 1 1/16 miles versus maiden claiming company on June 6 at Saratoga, the first race of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.
The second-out graduation in his turf bow earned an 80 Beyer Speed Figure.
“I think I’m going to give him a shot with the Manila. I talked with the owners, and we are on the way to try him,” said Kantarmaci. “I’m going to work him Tuesday and see if I’m entering Wednesday. That will be the decision.”
Another promising newcomer in the Kantarmaci barn is Krakow Racing’s Disco Ball, who made his first 21 starts on the West Coast for trainer Brian Koriner including four victories.
In his East Coast debut, along with his first and lone start for Kantarmaci, the 7-year-old Orb gelding captured a six-furlong Delaware Park optional claimer on June 7 by 4 3/4 lengths. The performance registered an 88 Beyer Speed Figure– he entered off a career-best 94 in March in a Santa Anita Park claimer.
“He did a good job for us. We have nothing circled yet for him. We will just go by him,” said Kantarmaci.
