Wood Memorial once again main attraction at Aqueduct spring meet

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 4 highlights a 15-stakes program that will be offered during the 13-day Aqueduct 2020 spring meet, which runs from April 2 through April 19.

The Wood Memorial, the last major 3-year-old race on the New York circuit offering qualifying points to the May 2 Kentucky Derby, is run at 1 1/8 miles. It will share the card with the Grade 1, $400,000 Carter Handicap for older male sprinters, the Grade 2, $300,000 Gazelle for 3-year-old fillies with designs on the Kentucky Oaks, the Grade 3, $250,000 Bay Shore Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters, and the Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior Stakes for older males going 1 1/8 miles.

The Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff Handicap for filly and mare sprinters on April 3 is the only other graded event offered during the short spring meet. There will be two four-day race weeks and one five-day week.

The remainder of the stakes schedule mirrors that of 2019. The only difference is that the Top Flight Invitational Handicap, a 1 1/8-mile race for older females run on April 11, had its purse cut in half to $100,000.

Following the Aqueduct spring meet, racing is scheduled to move to Belmont Park for a 51-day spring/summer meet from April 24 through July 12.

NYRA has not yet released the stakes schedule for the Belmont spring/summer or Saratoga meets. Earlier this week, NYRA confirmed that the Saratoga meet would run 40 days from July 16 through Sept. 7.