Aqueduct

Officials at the New York Racing Association (NYRA) were forced to call off the final four races on Saturday's New Year's Eve program, the result of heavy fog that rolled into the greater New York metropolitan area during the early afternoon hours that caused dangerously low visibility levels. Per the rules of the New York Gaming Commission, the Pick 6 pool, featuring a carryover of $22,611, will be refunded. The wager and carryover will return on Sunday's card, beginning with race four, with a mandatory payout. Saturday's featured $150,000 Queens...

The American Graded Stakes Committee released its list of graded stakes for 2023 Friday and it includes five races that were downgraded from Grade I status to Grade II races, including two of NYRA's more prestigious races for older dirt horses, the Woodward and the Cigar Mile H. Also dropping down from the Grade I to the Grade II level were the Clark S. at Churchill Downs, the Starlet S. at Los Alamitos and the Rodeo Drive S. at Santa Anita. The Woodward was, perhaps, the most surprising inclusion on...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-AQU, $85K, Msw, 2yo, 1m, 2:10 p.m. Picked up for $975,000 as a Keeneland September grad, ABSTRACT (Curlin) takes to the track in the afternoon for the first time for Repole Stable and St Elias Stable under the direction of Todd Pletcher. His dam, a half-sister to three stakes horses in Mom'z Laugh (Leroidesanimaux ({Brz}), Cajun Breeze (Congrats), and Peace At Dawn (Peace Rules), took a trio of Florida-bred stakes and ran second in the GIII Delta Downs Princess S. Looking to improve second-time out...

The stakes schedule for the 2023 spring meet at Aqueduct Racetrack, featuring 14 stakes worth nearly $2.8 million in total purses, was released Friday, Dec. 16 The 19-day spring meet will open Mar. 30 and continue through Apr. 30. Live racing will be conducted Thursday-Sunday except for Apr. 9, when live racing and pari-mutuel wagering is prohibited by New York State in observance of Easter Sunday. The $150,000 GIII Distaff H., a seven-furlong contest for older fillies and mares, will kick off the spring meet graded stakes action Friday, Apr....

The writing is on the wall for Aqueduct Racetrack. There has been no official announcement, but the New York Racing Association has made clear with its plans to 'winterize' Belmont Park that Aqueduct, New York's stalwart winter racing home for decades, is on borrowed time. And while the logic of continuing to operate two racetracks just nine miles apart is undeniably questionable, don't let anyone fool you into thinking that nothing of value will be lost or that no one will mourn when Aqueduct becomes the latest American racing staple...

The project to modernize Belmont Park will produce billions of dollars in economic impact and generate thousands of jobs, according to an independent economic study released by We Are NY Horse Racing Wednesday. According to the rigorous analysis completed by HR&A Advisors, a leading economic development and real estate consulting firm, the multi-year project to build a new Belmont Park will generate $1 billion in one-time construction-related economic impact while supporting 3,700 construction jobs. Upon completion, racing and non-racing activities at the new Belmont Park will generate $155 million in...

The Week in Review by T.D. Thornton When Silver Seeker (Central Banker) made his second start off a nearly three-year layoff Saturday at Aqueduct, the betting public was skeptical of the Midwest shipper's chances, dismissing him at 19-1 in a second-level allowance/optional claimer for New York-breds. The price seemed about right if all you had to go on were the gelding's past performances, which showed just a ninth-place November prep at Hawthorne for Gene LaCroix, an obscure-to-horseplayers trainer riding an 0-for-30 losing streak that dated to Sept. 20, 2020. Bettors...

A trio of GI Kentucky Derby preps highlight the Aqueduct 2023 winter meet stakes schedule, which was released by NYRA Wednesday. The 44-day winter meet, which begins Jan. 1 and runs through Mar. 26, will offer a total of 25 stakes races worth $3.2 million. Live racing will be conducted Thursday to Sunday until Feb. 12 and will move to a Friday to Sunday schedule from Feb. 17 through the end of the meet. Stakes action kicks off on opening day with the first Derby prep, the $150,000 Jerome S.,...

Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stable's Mind Control (Stay Thirsty), who has competed in 27 stakes since his debut in 2018, closed out his career in style Saturday, scoring his 11th black-type victory and third at the highest level in Aqueduct's GI Cigar Mile. With GI Pennsylvania Derby runner-up Zandon (Upstart) bet down to 3-5, Mind Control was dispatched as the 3-1 second choice, a gift to his faithful fans in his career finale. Away quickest of all, the bay was outrun by 58-1 shot Outlier (Not This Time) and...

Just one race after Stonestreet Stables homebred Julia Shining (Curlin) won the GII Demoiselle S. at Aqueduct, Stonestreet-bred Dubyuhnell (Good Magic), owned in partnership with West Paces Racing, out-dueled New York native Arctic Arrogance (Frosted) to take that venue's GII Remsen S. With the victory, he earned 10 points towards a start in the GI Kentucky Derby. Fourth on debut behind last weekend's GII Kentucky Jockey Club winner Instant Coffee (Bolt d'Oro) at Saratoga Sept. 3, Dubyuhnell rallied to victory next out in a sloppy off-the-turf test at this oval...

Just like her full-sister, champion Malathaat (Curlin), Julia Shining (Curlin) not only won her debut at Keeneland Oct. 16, but did so in 'TDN Rising Star'-fashion. And she followed in her GI Breeders' Cup Distaff-winning sister's hoofprints once again Saturday, capturing the GII Demoiselle S. in the slop at Aqueduct. Favored just like her sister, albeit at 1-2 instead of 2-5, Julia Shining was even farther back than Malathaat was in her Demoiselle, racing in second last as 37-1 shot Tribal Queen (Bolt d'Oro) clocked opening splits of :24.61 and...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 1st-AQU, $85K, Msw, 2yo, f, 7f, 12:20 p.m. A $700,000 Keeneland September pick up last year, ALLAMERICANBEAUTY (Into Mischief) makes her afternoon bow Sunday for trainer Shug McGaughey and owner Courtlandt Farms. Out of a full-sister to MGSW Aurelia's Belle, this is the family of champion 2-year-old filly Althea (Alydar), MGSW Atelier (Deputy Minister), GISW Aldiza (Storm Cat), and GSW Altesse (A.P. Indy)-two of whom were also trained by McGaughey. Allamericanbeauty worked a near-bullet four furlongs from the gate in :48 (3/125) Nov. 20 and...