Empire 6 mandatory payout juices opening day at Aqueduct
There will be plenty of action Friday as Aqueduct opens its fall meet with a 10-race card featuring a mandatory payout in the Empire 6 as well as the simulcast of the first of two Breeders’ Cup cards from Santa Anita.
For the second time in two years, inclement weather forced the cancellation of the closing-day card at Belmont Park. Last Sunday’s card was supposed to have a mandatory payout of the Empire 6, which had a $279,432 carryover entering the day. That mandatory payout of the entire Empire 6 pool will be Friday with that wager beginning with race 5 at 2 p.m. Eastern.
First post for Friday and Saturday – both featuring 10-race cards – is noon. Thereafter, first post for eight-race Aqueduct cards will be 12:50 p.m. and 12:20 p.m. for nine-race cards.
The Empire 6, a 20-cent base wager that first started during the Saratoga meet, will be offered at Aqueduct.
Friday’s Empire 6 sequence features two turf races including a maiden sprint that drew 14 for the turf and two main track-only runners. The field will be limited to 10 starters. While Friday’s weather was forecast to be dry, there was a chance for as much as an inch of rain from Wednesday night through Thursday.
The Empire 6 also includes the $150,000 Tempted, a wide-open event for 2-year-old fillies going a mile led by Maedean, Power Move, and Sweet Kisses.
NYRA officials will certainly be hoping for a dry November as turf racing figures to be prominent this fall. Last year, weather limited Aqueduct to 31 turf races at the fall meet, compared to 87 in the fall of 2017. Turf racing yields higher field size. At the recently concluded Belmont fall meet, average field size for the 158 turf races run was 8.08 horses per race while it was 6.63 for the 166 dirt races.
“The new turf courses have been down now for a year and a half to two years and are in good shape,” said Martin Panza, NYRA’s senior vice president of racing operations. “We’re looking forward to a good fall meet.”
Panza has promoted Keith Doleshel to the role of racing secretary at Aqueduct. Doleshel, 34, replaces Mike Lakow, who left NYRA in September to become vice president of racing operations for Gulfstream Park.
Doleshel has previous served as an assistant racing secretary at Belmont and Aqueduct. Rob Driscoll is the new assistant racing secretary.
Brook Hawkins has been hired as the new NYRA steward. He replaces Braulio Baeza Jr., who moved over to the role of New York State Gaming Commission steward. Jennifer Durenberger began her role as Jockey Club steward at the Belmont fall meet.
Hawkins served as the Louisiana State Racing Commission steward since 2007.
“From horsemen we’ve talked to and other people we’ve talked to he seems to be well liked, a man of integrity and fair,” Panza said. “We’re very pleased with him joining NYRA.”
Friday’s Tempted is one of 22 stakes worth $3.55 million originally scheduled for the meet. Last Sunday’s Belmont cancellation forced officials to move the Zagora Stakes and Chelsey Flower from Belmont to this Sunday’s Aqueduct card. The Pumpkin Pie, a dirt sprint for fillies and mares scheduled for last Sunday, has been moved to Nov. 9.
There are seven Grade 3 events offered at Aqueduct, topped by the $400,000 Long Island for fillies and mares at 1 3/8 miles on Nov. 30. The Long Island is one of 11 stakes offered from Thanksgiving Thursday through Dec. 1.
The Aqueduct winter meet will officially begin on Dec. 5. On Dec. 7, the Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile tops a four-stakes program that includes the Grade 2 Remsen for 2-year-olds and the Grade 2 Demoiselle for 2-year-old fillies, and the Grade 3 Go for Wand for fillies and mares at one mile.
With the exception of Nov. 20 and 27, Wednesdays will be primarily dark days on the circuit as NYRA transitions from a five-day race week during November to a four-day week starting December and likely moving forward through February. In March, the race week could shrink three days a week as it has the previous two years.
NYRA has yet to announce its 2020 schedule.