Four new juvenile turf stakes at Aqueduct fall meet

A doubling of the purse for the Long Island Handicap and the addition of four new turf stakes for 2-year-olds highlight the changes to the Aqueduct fall stakes schedule released Thursday by the New York Racing Association.

The Long Island, a Grade 3 turf stakes for fillies and mares run at 1 3/8 miles, will now be worth $400,000 and will anchor the Nov. 24 card, which is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It had been worth $200,000 and run on Breeders’ Cup Saturday, the first Saturday of November.

The Grade 3, $150,000 Turnback the Alarm Handicap, which had been run at Belmont Park since 2012, has been moved back to Aqueduct and will be run on Nov. 3, which is Breeders’ Cup Saturday.

The NYRA has added four new $100,000 turf stakes for juveniles: the Atlantic Beach for 2-year-olds at six furlongs on Nov. 10, the Stewart Manor for fillies at six furlongs on Nov. 11, the Central Park for 2-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on Nov. 22, and the Tepin for filliles on Nov. 25.

The Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile on Dec. 1 is the highlight of the 38-day fall meet, which runs Nov. 2 through Dec. 31.

The Dec. 1 card also includes the Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen and the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle for juveniles and juvenile fillies, respectively, and the Grade 3, $250,000 Go for Wand Handicap, which received a $50,000 increase from last year.

The Grade 3 Comely Stakes for 3-year-old fillies had its purse dropped by $50,000 to $200,000. It is one of four stakes to be run Nov. 23, the Friday after Thanksgiving.

In total, there will be 35 stakes worth $5.9 million offered during the Aqueduct fall meet.