OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Following a 10-day break to freshen up and recharge, racing on this circuit resumes Friday at Aqueduct with the first of 31 cards to be contested during what would ordinarily be the Belmont Park fall meeting.
With the ongoing renovation project at Belmont Park, this will be third straight year the Belmont fall meet will be conducted at Aqueduct under the moniker Belmont at the Big A. The stakes schedule is packed with the typical Belmont fall fare, including two weekends of stakes designed to be preludes to the Breeders’ Cup, which will be held Nov. 1-2 at Del Mar in Southern California.
Of the 48 flat stakes – plus two steeplechase events – to be conducted through Nov. 3, 21 are graded and six offer automatic berths into their respective Breeders’ Cup races. Fifteen stakes, 14 of which are graded, will be conducted between Sept. 28 and Oct. 6.
The Sept. 28 card is topped by the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch, which does not offer a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf. Also on that card is the Grade 2, $400,000 Woodward at 1 1/8 miles, which could be used as a bridge to either the $7 million BC Classic or $1 million Dirt Mile. The Grade 3, $250,000 Vosburgh and Grade 2, $200,000 Pilgrim are BC qualifiers for the BC Sprint and Juvenile Turf, respectively.
Eight graded stakes will be held between Oct. 4-6, with the Oct. 5 card highlighting the weekend with the Champagne and Frizette for 2-year-olds and 2-year-old fillies – the final two Grade 1 stakes to be run in New York until June 2025 – as well as the Grade 3, $500,000 Jockey Club Derby and the Grade 3, $200,000 Belmont Turf Sprint.
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That weekend concludes with the Grade 2, $250,000 Beldame for females on dirt and the Grade 3, $200,000 Matron for 2-year-old filly sprinters on turf.
After this opening three-day week, racing will be conducted Thursdays through Sundays for the remainder of the session.
Chad Brown, coming off a dominant Saratoga meet with 45 wins, will be aiming for his 13th consecutive Belmont/Belmont at the Big A fall training title. In 2012 and again in 2016 he shared the title with David Jacobson and Rudy Rodriguez, respectively.
With jockey’s shuffling between here and Kentucky during the fall, the jockeys’ title figures to be up for grabs. Irad Ortiz Jr. has been leading rider at seven of the last 10 fall meets, though Manny Franco has twice won the title, including last all. Franco is coming off a seven-win day at Colonial Downs last Saturday.
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