At 33, Merktan Kantarmaci steps away from training

OZONE PARK, N.Y. -- Mertkan Kantarmaci is only 33 years old but the stress of being a horse trainer these days has prompted him to take step away from the job.

After he runs Evvie Jets in the Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland on Oct. 5, Kantarmaci will no longer train horses. In New York, where he has been primarily based since 2019, Kantarmaci has turned over his 27-horse stable to his brother Ilkay.

Kantarmaci said the plethora of new rules and regulations, whether implemented by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority or the New York Racing Association, have made the job more difficult.

“I always liked to train but everything is difficult right now in New York,” Kantarmaci said. “So many things to follow, it’s more than training. It takes so much from your life. You do your training and then spend all your day following other rules and regulations and claiming is so difficult at the moment. You’re getting voided claims, you can’t replace the horses you lose, it’s hard to keep a stable right now.

“You need to deal with so many things that are out of your control, it’s no longer bring the horse to the gate,” Kantarmaci added. “Am I going to get scratched at the gate, or in the mornings? Even the sound horses we get scratched. I don’t understand it.”

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Kantarmaci has not been sanctioned by HISA or its independent enforcement agency known as the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit.

Of HISA/HIWU, specifically, Kantarmaci said, “I don’t know if they are helping or hurting the business. They want to catch your one mistake and come after you. I don’t understand that, they don’t let you breathe.”

Kantarmaci came to the U.S. from Turkey, where his father was a trainer. His first runners in the U.S. came in 2016, racing primarily on the Mid-Atlantic circuit. He had his first big success in New York during the winter of 2018-19, when he won 11 races from 36 starters at Aqueduct.

In Sept. 2021, Kantarmaci hit a home run when he claimed the filly Evvie Jets for $80,000 on behalf of owner Robert Amendola. Since the claim, Evvie Jets won six races from 20 starts including four stakes, topped by the Grade 2 Ballston Spa at Saratoga in 2023. Evvie Jets, now owned by Amendola’s son Michael, will have her final start in the First Lady before being sold at the Fasig-Tipton Night of Stars sale in November, Kantarmaci said. For her career, Evvie Jets has earned $954,468.

Evvie Jets is winless in four starts this year, though she just finished third in the Grade 3, $1.5 million Ladies Turf at Kentucky Downs on Aug. 31.

Ilkay, 35, has previously trained runners in the U.S., having won 13 races from 77 starters. In 2022, at Parx, Ilkay Kantarmaci was credited with eight winners from 42 starters. Ilkay is listed as the managing partner of Krakow Racing, which includes his brother Mertkan, who will still remain an active owner.

“We used to work together and everything is going to be together only I’m going to be in charge about more things,” Ilkay said. “We own most of the horses, so he’s still part of it. He’s going to be with me forever. I don’t think we can be separated.”

Mertkan Kantarmaci said he will reassess things in six months to a year to see if or how he wants to be part of the industry. Another issue he has is that there is no limit to the number of horses a trainer can have, something he believe has a negative impact on the game.

“They should limit the trainers [number of horses] in my opinion,” Kantarmaci said. “There’s no opportunities for new clients, new owners for the younger generation. You have no piece of the pie. That’s another problem in the country. So many trainers have 100 or more horses how are you gonna compete with that?”

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