Live attendance returns to Aqueduct for the first time in 20 months

Racing on this circuit moves to Aqueduct beginning Thursday and for the first time in 20 months fans will be allowed on-site to watch and wager on the races.

Aqueduct’s fall meet runs 15 days, from Thursday through Dec. 5 before the 2021-22 winter meet begins on Dec. 9 and runs through March 27, 2022. A 15-day spring meet runs from March 31 through April 24.

Aqueduct has not been open to the public since March 8, 2020, right before the COVID-19 virus was labeled a pandemic. Racing was conducted for three days without fans before racing was shut down for two months on March 19, 2020. The 2020 Aqueduct fall meet, the 2020-21 winter meet, and the 2021 spring meet were all conducted with just a limited number of owners and staff allowed onsite.

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A large part of the first floor of Aqueduct became utilized as a mass vaccination center for COVID-19. While that vaccination center is still in place, it is much smaller in size and scope. Fans who attend the races will have use of half of the first floor and the second floor will be open in full. The simulcast area and bar Longshots will also be open.

First post during the fall meet is 12:20 p.m. for nine-race cards and 12:50 for eight-race cards. The first two cards – Thursday and Friday – each have nine races. When there are 10 races, first post will be 11:50 a.m. Racing will be conducted four days a week (Thursdays through Sundays), though the track will once again be dark on Thanksgiving Day.

Most live cards end around 4:15 p.m. and the track will remain open to fans for only 30 minutes after Aqueduct’s last race.

If Mother Nature cooperates, there should be plenty of turf racing over the next month. There are five turf races scheduled for Thursday and four on Friday. The forecast for Thursday is for dry conditions and temperatures in the low 60s. Rain is forecast for Friday.

Aqueduct’s fall meet will feature 21 stakes worth $4.25 million. The meet is topped by the Dec. 4 card featuring the Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile, the Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen, the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle, and the Grade 3, $250,000 Go for Wand Handicap.

Other highlights include the Grade 2, $200,000 Red Smith for male marathon turf horses on Nov. 20, the Grade 3, $400,000 Long Island for female marathon turf horses on Nov. 27, and the Grade 3, $200,000 Fall Highweight Handicap for sprinters on Nov. 28, which closes out a three-day, 10-stakes Thanksgiving weekend.

Thursday’s opening-day feature is a first-level allowance race for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles on turf. This race should look familiar to handicappers as it was scheduled to be the feature at Belmont on Oct. 28, but was rained off to the dirt. The significant difference to horsemen is the purse is now $82,000, whereas at Belmont it was $92,000. Purses at Aqueduct are at the same level they were last fall, but not at the level that Belmont’s purses were raised to this fall.

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The additional two weeks may be beneficial to Regal Speaker, the New York-bred trying open company after going through his statebred conditions. Regal Speaker earned a career-best 88 Beyer Speed Figure when he won on Sept. 30 and prior to the Oct. 28 race, trainer Danny Gargan expressed concern about running back in four weeks off that number. Now he’ll have six weeks.

While Javier Castellano was named to ride Regal Speaker on Oct. 28, Jose Lezcano is named to ride him Thursday. Castellano is now on Never Explain for Shug McGaughey.

Ranger Fox is stretching out from six furlongs to 1 1/8 miles in this spot. Trainer John Terranova said he believes he made a mistake when he cut the horse back to sprint in the Allied Forces Stakes, where he finished fifth. “He wants more ground,” Terranova said. “He just goes and goes and he’s been working really well.”

Practically the entire group that was entered on Oct. 28 is entered back in this spot, including St. Joe Louis for Chad Brown, Space Launch for Christophe Clement, Hidden Enemy for Steve Asmussen, and King Cause for Mike Maker.