Turf Paradise: E Z Kitty looks to repeat in Kachina Handicap

E Z Kitty, who used her abundant speed to win five stakes races in 2013, will try to capture the $35,000 Kachina Handicap for the second straight year Wednesday at Turf Paradise. The mare figures to be a short-priced favorite when she begins her 6-year-old season against eight rivals as the 123-pound highweight in the one-mile test.

E Z Kitty wired the 2013 Kachina Handicap by 4 3/4 lengths under a hand ride by jockey Scott Stevens. Trained by Jeff Metz for the Highlander Racing Stable, E Z Kitty had a standout year in 2013, winning 6 of 13 races and finishing off the board just once, a last-place finish in the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes on turf at Santa Anita in November. She won three stakes at Emerald Downs in 2013, including a front-running 3 1/2-length score in the 1 1/8-mile Emerald Distaff Handicap in August.

E Z Kitty will be returning to the main track after two starts on turf, including a two-length win in a one-mile allowance at Turf Paradise last out Nov. 19. Stevens retains the mount from post 7.

Enlightened, who finished fourth behind E Z Kitty on Nov. 19, owns the field’s highest last-race Beyer Speed Figure, a 78. She earned that mark by rallying from just off the pace for a one-length victory in a starter stakes race Dec. 7.

The field also includes Love Makor, Kind of Naughty, Lady Jila, Amber Got Even, and Gosailgo, who finished second through sixth in the $35,000 Phoenix Stakes on Dec. 14. E Z Kitty won that race in 2012 but sat out the 2013 edition, which was won by Tribal Gal.

Rounding out the field are Of Royalty, who won the $35,000 Chandler Stakes going a mile on the Turf Paradise grass course Nov. 16, and Toppers Sunshine, who wired a third-level allowance on the same course by three lengths Nov. 26.