Horse Racing Fantasy Community

March 6th will offer humanity another race run by these magnificent four-legged mustangs. This race will be in the borough of Queens, New York City near the neighborhood of Ozone Park. This horse race track, called the Aqueduct, opened on Sept. 27th, 1894.

Despite its long existence, it is fully functional in this new millennia due to several strategic renovations. In fact, this facility was raised in 1956 and this new rendition was propped up three years later in 1959. Since 1975, the inner race track was completed to pave the way for winter racing. Aqueduct has a nickname, “Big A.”

This year, the Kentucky Derby Prep race at the Aqueduct will be a Grade III under the Gotham name. This is a sinister name but it is relevant to the Batman storyline which is appealing in some circles. The winner will escort home $250,000 in this 1 1/16th of a mile course. The winner of this race last year was I Want Revenge who was guided by the jockey Joe Talamo. He beat 8 other competitors who all wanted a shot to compete at the Derby in Louisville. Last year, when Talamo prevailed, the course was a little longer at 1 1/8 miles. This was referred to as the Wood Memorial and it netted him $450,000. It took him one minute and just under 43 seconds to win that dough. What was very peculiar was this rightfully earned Kentucky Derby contender did not participate at the Derby. He was scratched which I am sure is still a sort spot with Talamo and trainer Jeff Mullins.

Attendance at this fine facility is for 40,000 but actual seating is a little less at 17,000. At any one point, about 1,200 of them can be enjoying some delicious food, although probably not that inexpensive, near the track. To enter the Clubhouse and Skyline, there are not any fees. What is amazing; there is no charge for regular parking.

The track consumes 192 acres, including the track and steed stables and holds 400 horses. A few years ago, around the middle of 2007, the governor at the time, Eliot Spitzer, contemplated selling off this relic to the real estate industry. It made sense to a few since the New York Racing Association’s lease was going to run its course by the end of that year. Nearby Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, would have been altered to operate almost all year and would have taken control of the popular video lottery games. Saratago Race Track would have benefited as well since it would installed heated seats and would have been upgraded to a year round park. Fortunately this did not happen. Some people think this was being pondered since Aqueduct seems to attract more plebian supporters whereas Belmont gathers most of its revenue from the patrician class.