Evvie Jets notches upset in Plenty of Grace Stakes
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Evvie Jets used her pace advantage to perfection Sunday to pull off a minor upset in the $97,000 Plenty of Grace Stakes at Aqueduct.
The lone speed on paper, Evvie Jets, under Eric Cancel, established a one-length advantage through a half-mile in 49.69 seconds, six furlongs in 1:13.18 and had enough left to fend off a challenge from Whitebeam to win the Plenty of Grace by a neck. It was 1 3/4 lengths back to Runaway Rumour in third. She was followed by Spirit and Glory and Malavath, the 1-2 favorite who finished last. Toned Up and Impazible Donna, the latter entered only for the main track, scratched.
The win was the fifth from 18 starts for Evvie Jets, a 5-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy. She has gone 4 for 11 with two stakes victories since being claimed for $80,000 by trainer Mertkan Kantarmaci on behalf of Robert Amendola in Sept. 2021. Amendola died last November, but his son Michael has kept the stable of existing horses going.
“It’ll be a special win for us, my dad was definitely with us today and I know he’s happy with everything these guys are doing for the horse,” Michael Amendola said. "It’s a good day.”
Evvie Jets broke sharp from post 2 and was able to open up a clear lead while being chased by Runaway Rumour with Malavath, the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Mile runner-up, sitting third along the rail under Jose Ortiz and Whitebeam fourth.
Around the turn, Malavath backed up and Runaway Rumour wasn’t keeping up turning for home. Evvie Jets turned for home with a clear advantage and was able to hold Whitebeam at bay at the wire.
“I really liked there was no other speed in the race, I knew I could get an easy lead,” Cancel said. “She’s a filly that fights hard every time. I was just concerned how close they would be coming to me, but when she feels horses she goes back to running again. That worked in my favor; once the other horse got close to me, she just kept going.”
Evvie Jets covered the mile over firm turf in 1:35.73 and returned $11.80 as the third choice.
Kantarmaci said he was happy to see Evvie Jets loose on the lead through a soft pace.
“It was beautiful for her because I know she can finish [off] that pace,” Kantarmaci said.
Kantarmaci said he would like to keep Evvie Jets racing at a mile, but didn’t have anything picked out for her next start.
Malavath was sent off the heavy favorite based on her group stakes wins in Europe and her runner-up finish behind Modern Games in the Breeders’ Cup Mile last Nov. 5. She was purchased for the equivalent of $3.3 million last December at the Arqana Bloodstock Sale in Deauville, France, by Moyglare Stud and turned over to Christophe Clement.
Ortiz said Malavath may have been compromised by the tighter turns of Aqueduct’s turf course.
“Some horses don’t like these tight turns, I think she’s one of them,” Ortiz said. “I think she’ll be better when she gets to Belmont.”
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