OZONE PARK, N.Y – Temperatures reaching the 80s in the New York City area this week aren’t the only sign that spring has finally arrived. The return of turf racing to Aqueduct is another. And just in the nick of time. Filling all-dirt racecard programs all winter into the early part of the spring became increasingly challenging for the New York Racing Association as evidenced by the fact there were only seven races last Friday and eight on Saturday. Short fields had become the norm. Thursday, four of the eight races on the Aqueduct card are scheduled for the turf ,including the final two races which drew overflow fields. The rails on the outer course will be out 24 feet, limiting starters to 10. The rails on the inner turf are down so as many as 12 horses may start. Race 7 is a first-level allowance for New York-breds scheduled for six furlongs on the outer turf. One Last Knock and Long Legged Queen dead-heated for second in this same condition when they both ran here last Nov. 15. Neither has raced since. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. One Last Knock, trained by Keri Brion, won her maiden last August at Saratoga, then shipped up to Aqueduct from Brion’s base at the Fair Hill training center in Maryland three times, finishing second in all three. Brion said all the shipping may have taken a slight toll on the filly, who was in contention until the eighth pole of her last race before giving way to Willful Mama. It looked as though she was going to get second by herself before Long Legged Queen met her on the wire. “I think she just got a little bit tired,” Brion said. “But she’s fresh now and good and she’s been working very well. I’m not thrilled with the one hole but she’s got enough speed to get out of there.” Brion did pop One Last Knock out of the gate at Fair Hill on a day when she worked a half-mile in 48.20 seconds, the fastest of 12 moves at the distance. Long Legged Queen was at the end of an eight-race campaign last November when she rallied from the back to dead heat for second. She ran that race three weeks after winning a starter allowance at odds of 14-1. “I ran her back too quick, but that was the only race there was, it was the end of the turf season,” trainer Joe Lee said. Lee had Long Legged Queen at Tampa Bay Downs, then at Keeneland before planning to ship her to New York on Tuesday. “She wintered well, she’s put on 75 pounds, looks really good, filled out nice,” Lee said. “She’s been working really well. I’m happy with how she’s doing.” Long Legged Queen will be ridden by Sahin Civaci, who was aboard for the 14-1 upset victory last October. Highway Harmony won two straight at Gulfstream Park, both open claiming races and both around two turns. She is winless in four starts at Aqueduct. Tenacious Child, trained by George Weaver, is trying turf for the first time. She is by McKinzie out of the turf-winning mare Stella Performance. She gets the services of seven-pound apprentice Dalila Rivera, who is 5 for 17 at the Aqueduct spring meet. Deterministic to Fort Marcy After being scratched from last Friday’s Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile, Deterministic is now being pointed toward the Fort Marcy Stakes at Aqueduct on May 2, trainer Miguel Clement said over the weekend. Clement told the New York Racing Association he wasn’t happy with how Deterministic was acting when he arrived at Keeneland from Florida in advance of the Maker’s Mark so he scratched him from the race. Clement said Deterministic “was just a little slow at Keeneland and I wasn’t 100 percent satisfied in the days leading up to it. The horse has a lot of energy and life to him, so we’ll regroup and point to the Fort Marcy.” Deterministic won the Fort Marcy last year and then went on to win the Manhattan and Fourstardave – both Grade 1 stakes at Saratoga – before having to miss the remainder of the year due to some physical issues. Clement also plans to run the two-time Grade 1 winner Carson’s Run in the Fort Marcy. Carson’s Run finished sixth in the Appleton at Gulfstream on March 28. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.