The calendar flips to April and technically Thursday is the start of a new meet at Aqueduct, but little will change at least at the start of the 15-day spring session. The New York Racing Association has previously announced the start of turf season would be pushed back two weeks until April 16. Many of the outfits that winter in Florida will send their better stock to Keeneland for that meet, which likely leaves Aqueduct with a bevy of short fields that were prevalent during the winter meet. One change bettors will get a glimpse of right away is the addition of Edgard Zayas to the New York jockey colony. A perennial top rider at Gulfstream Park for a decade, Zayas starts off with two mounts on Thursday’s card. “I’m really looking forward to it, it’s been on my mind for a long time – to do the next step,” Zayas, 32, said. “I think we’ve done really good in South Florida for a lot of years, but I’m up for a new challenge, I’m excited about it and hopefully we get the support we need from the owners and trainers. I know it’s not going to be easy, but we’re going to work.” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. According to his agent, Tito Fuentes, Zayas will start working horses daily on Thursday morning at Belmont Park. Zayas said the uncertainty of the long-term future of racing in South Florida combined with the fact that both Irad Ortiz Jr., his brother Jose Ortiz and others are more focused on Kentucky racing made this the right time to try New York. Flavien Prat, Manny Franco, Kendrick Carmouche, Jose Lezcano, Ricardo Santana Jr., and Dylan Davis, the latter returning to New York after spending a month at Gulfstream, will head the spring colony. Zayas went winless with nine mounts at Aqueduct last fall. However, last Aug. 30, he won three races on one card at Saratoga and came back the next day with another winner. “That put something into it too, it was like ‘What are we doing down here?’ ” Zayas said. “When you’re up there in the mix, opportunities open.” On Thursday, in race 5, Zayas rides Timia, who is one of several contenders in a starter allowance. In race 6, Zayas will be aboard Resilient Hero, a longshot in another starter allowance. On Friday, Zayas is named on just one horse, Lights Out Leni, a 3-year-old filly who makes her career debut going 6 1/2 furlongs for trainer Chad Summers. Zayas will be at Keeneland on Saturday where his mounts include Rezasrolex in the Shakertown Stakes for trainer Joe Orseno. Rice looks to continue domination Coming off a winter meet in which she won 62 races – 43 more than the next trainer – Linda Rice looks ready to dominate the spring meet as she has nine horses among the 56 entrants on Thursday’s eight-race card. At the winter meet, Rice posted an impressive record of 62-49-43 from 247 starters and her horses ran out $3,014,346. Rice was also the leading owner at the meet with 26 victories. The feature Thursday is actually the first race on the card. Rice has the pair of El Grande O and Acoustic Ave entered in the conditioned allowance/optional $100,000 claimer, the type of race each has won going back to last October. Rice may only go with El Grande O as Acoustic Ave is entered in Saturday’s Grade 2 Carter. As of Monday, Rice said she was leaning toward running him in that spot. El Grande O beat Acoustic Ave by a head in this same condition last Oct. 9, while Acoustic Ave won this condition on Jan. 23 before finishing second to the streaking National Identity in the Say Florida Sandy Stakes. Rice noted that El Grande O is better when he can race on Lasix, which will be the case on Thursday. El Grande O is 3 for 5 racing on Lasix. Full Moon Madness, second, beaten a nose by Bold Journey in the Tom Fool, is back in this spot for trainer Michelle Nevin. Victory Way, third in the Toboggan, is a contender in this field while Breslau ran a race two back that would make him a fit in this short field. ◗ There are 15 days of racing at the spring meet, which runs through April 26. There is no racing Easter Sunday (April 5). The Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial tops Saturday’s 12-race card, which includes the Grade 2 Carter, Grade 3 Gazelle, and Grade 3 Distaff. Those are the only graded events of the meet. The Plenty of Grace Stakes for older females originally scheduled for Saturday, has been rescheduled for April 17. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.