Ilkay Kantarmaci enters 8 for New York starter championships
Trainer Ilkay Kantarmaci entered eight horses across Saturday’s lucrative fall starter championships program at Belmont at the Big A, featuring 10 races offering a combined $970,000 in purse money.
A total of 109 horses were entered in the 10 fall starter championship races, which are open to horses who have started for a prescribed claiming price since July 1, 2024. Each race in the series is named after popular claiming horses who ran on the New York Racing Association circuit. The 11-race card, with a first post of 12:10 p.m. EDT, is supported by the Grade 2, $200,000 Sands Point.
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Kantarmaci, whose father Tuncay was an accomplished trainer in their native Türkiye, will be represented by Systemic Change in the Lone Rock, Barksdale and Fromanothamutha in the Creme de la Fete, Dr. Kraft and Jackson Heights in the Be Bullish, Conman in the Voodoo Song and Let It Ride and possibly main-track entrant Gatsby in the Silver Timber.
"We claim a lot of horses over the year, and these races create excitement for us. We can see the horses are improving and we can see the results from the work that we do,” Kantarmaci said. “When you claim a horse and improve them, it shows that we can also make it as a trainer. It's a big challenge for someone like myself and when they come to us and we do good, it means a lot. It shows that when we have a good horse, we can get the job done."
Kantarmaci haltered Dr. Kraft for $50,000 at Aqueduct in April, and the 5-year-old New York-bred son of The Lieutenant has won twice since in four starts as he looms a strong contender in the $110,000 Be Bullish.
“When I claimed him, he still had the two-other-than New York-bred condition and then we won it,” Kantarmaci said. “He was still eligible for an a-other-than that we won at Parx for a good purse. Now, he's eligible for this race and it's like stakes money, it's very good."
Kantarmaci, who oversees a stable of 35 horses, said he tries to treat each of his horses as individuals.
"I go horse by horse. I don't have one schedule. I learned this from my father, every horse is different,” Kantarmaci said. “Some horses need light training and some horses need more. I go by what the horse wants.”
Kantarmaci said he is especially excited to watch Saturday’s $110,000 Evvie Jets, which is named for the popular mare claimed for $80,000 by his brother Mertkan on behalf of the late Robert J. Amendola. She went on to win a pair of graded races on the NYRA circuit.
"I wish I had a horse for this race, but I don't have any horses for the turf going long, so I will only be watching but this means a lot to us. It's an honor," said Kantarmaci, who was an assistant to his brother Mertkan during Evvie Jets’s run. "We claimed Evvie Jets and won graded stakes races with her, and now it's really nice to see her name on a race over there."