NYRA moves Belmont Park fall meet to Aqueduct
 

https://www.horseracingnation.com/ne...o_Aqueduct_123

I personally wanted to see them extend the Saratoga meet with this scenario happening IMO it would have been cool but they just decided that Aqueduct was the better spot I guess :ThmbUp:

Saratoga to Aqueduct would best be described as… too sudden.

It’s like going from a paradise to a prison.

Gas alone. Plus manpower.
 

20 miles round trip on the Cross island expressway. Belmont Park to aqueduct.


No stall space at aqueduct

Many of us spend a lot of time longing for the old days. Well, welcome back to 1964-1968 - when the Belmont meets were run at Aqueduct while "new Belmont" was being constructed!

Thank God for Parx.
That is just too GD much Aquesucks.
It already seems like the winter meet is two years.

I think it's kind of cool, actually. Aqueduct, at various times, has hosted a number of NYRA's big fall races. More recently, other than the Cigar Mile, it really hasn't. It will be great to see the old track back in the spotlight again.

Every other day it seems the rail is either dead or golden.
Maybe they could borrow one of Belmont's temp turf rails and use it on the main track. :rolleyes:

There were also quite a few split bias days at Aqueduct at the end of last year and into the winter, where the track would look like it was speed favoring for the first four or five races, then closers would win the last four races. I don't think it was a coincidence, it happened too often. Sort of looked like a drying out track.

wasn't a big deal in the 1960's

How many folks on this board remember an Aqueduct "summer" meeting that took place after Belmont and before the 24-day stand at Saratoga?

How many remember the Aqueduct walking ring before the current "below ground level" paddock?

How many of you remember Saratoga having less than 10,000 people per day with downstaters wondering "why is that meet needed"?

just don't mess up and 'winterize' the fall meet track :popcorn:

Good luck trying to sort that all out when there's also a lot of turf racing and you only get a handful of dirt races to evaluate.

Aqueduct to take one Belmont fall meet can be handled. All the proposed changes at Belmont not so much.

Am I right in remembering that this is the second iteration of the "below ground level" paddock at the Big A, with the stalls on the "track" side? It seems like when I started in the game, the saddling stalls were on the stands side (horses couldn't really be seen well as we were standing on the platform above them) and faced out towards the track.

I go back to 1969 as a fan and do not remember another saddling option.

I am having a Frank Wright and Charlsie Cantey moment right now. It is almost impossible to believe that Frank left us 30 years ago.