The Estate of Robert J. Amendola's Evvie Jets, who recorded her best season yet with a Grade 2 win and purse earnings of $379,338 from six starts, was withdrawn from Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale and will return for a 6-year-old campaign.
Michael Amendola, son of the late Robert Amendola, said that after a family discussion the 5-year-old Twirling Candy mare is wintering at In Front Training Center in upstate New York and will return to the care of trainer Mertkan Kantarmaci and his brother and assistant Ilkay Kantarmaci in time to launch a spring campaign.
“The consensus was to keep it going for another year,” Amendola said. “My mom had a lot of influence in wanting to continue to run and we felt my dad certainly would have wanted her to run one more year, so here we are.”
Kentucky-bred Evvie Jets has become a fan and barn favorite since being claimed for $80,000 in September 2021, posting a record of 16-6-5-1 since for purse earnings of $689,708 led by wins in last year's Noble Damsel (G3) at Belmont at the Big A and a memorable head score in the Mohegan Sun Ballston Spa (G2) in August at Saratoga Race Course. During this stretch, she also captured the Plenty of Grace at the Big A and the Perfect Sting at Belmont.
She made her Grade 1 debut last out, overcoming a slow start from the outermost post 8 to finish third in the First Lady at Keeneland when less than four lengths back of the victorious Gina Romantica, who headed her Chad Brown-trained stablemate In Italian for the win. Evvie Jets earned a career-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.
“If only we'd had a better post. When you look at the head on, the gate was so far off the rail,” Amendola said. “That certainly didn't help her chances. I'm not saying we'd have got up to win, but if we could have looked In Italian in the eye. … Gina Romantica had that opportunity and just ran right by her. Still, we were real happy with that performance.
“She came out of the race great — we sent her to In Front Farm about an hour south of Saratoga,” Amendola continued. “She's been there the last two winters and she's doing great. Hopefully, she'll have a good 6-year-old campaign and she can get that Grade 1 notch on her belt.”
Evvie Jets launched her storybook season with one-mile stakes scores in the Plenty of Grace and Perfect Sting surrounding an off-the-board effort in the Beaugay (G3) when returning on shorter than usual rest at 1 1/16-miles.
She failed to fire her best effort when sixth in the Spa's restricted one-mile De La Rose on August 2, but Amendola said Kantarmaci was adamant the bay had more to give and insisted on bringing her back in the 1 1/16-mile Ballston Spa (G2) just three weeks later.
“I have to take my hat off to Matt [Mertkan] and Ilkay for selecting that race,” Amendola said. “She had been doing well and we were expecting a big performance in the De La Rose but didn't get the outcome that we'd like. When she came back to the barn it was like she hadn't run, so the next morning we decided we were going to run in the Ballston Spa.”
Manny Franco picked up the mount for the Ballston Spa and utilized a perfect ground-saving trip, rallying stoutly up the rail to take command with an eighth of a mile to run and stave off multiple graded stakes winner Fluffy Socks to secure a head win in a field that included divisional stalwarts Gam's Mission [4th], Technical Analysis [5th] and Consumer Spending [6th]. The sparkling effort earned honors as WinStar Farm's Ride of the Meet.
“That was a really nice field,” Amendola said. “And for that to happen at Saratoga — a place we spent most summers when I was growing up — and to win a Grade 2 up there was really special.”
The Amendola family currently have allowance winner Arrio in training with the Kantarmacis and also own a Central Banker weanling out of the 10-time winning Jump Start mare Jump for Joy. Arrio, a 5-year-old Paynter gelding, is a turf specialist entered next week at Laurel Park and there are tempered hopes for the weanling.
“We enjoyed her mom's competitiveness and did well with her. If she has her mom's heart, we'll have fun with her,” Amendola said.
But there is little doubt that Evvie Jets is the queen of the barn.
“We're circling those big races in the spring and fall at Keeneland,” Amendola said. “We'd love to get that Grade 1 in her. Hopefully, we have five or six starts for her [next] year and each one will be more exciting than the last.”
A half-sister to multiple stakes-placed Forever Mo, Evvie Jets is out of the Consolidator mare Natchez Trace, who is a half-sister to graded stakes-placed Vermilion and stakes-winner Perfectly Clear. Evvie Jets boasts a career record of 23-7-6-3 for purse earnings of $770,868.
The post Fan Favorite, Former Claimer Evvie Jets To Stay In Training In 2024, Seek Grade 1 Win appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
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