Aqueduct Horse Race Falls Half-A-Furlong Short

There are certain things that are taken for granted in sports. Among them are that the bases in baseball will be equidistant from each other, a football field will be 100 yards long, or that a horse race that says it’s going to be run at a certain distance is actually run at that distance.

But, hey, mistakes happen. To wit, on the wholly appropriate date of April 1, the NCAA admitted that one of the 3-point lines at the women’s basketball regionals at Portland’s Moda Center was nine inches too short. And on Memorial Day at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York, a race that was supposed to be run at 5-1/2 furlongs was erroneously run at just 5 furlongs.

According to The Daily Racing Form, this mistake in measurement came about due to a misprint in the official program, where the graphic identifying the race’s length was incorrectly listed as five furlongs. Some additional text in the program and the pre-race condition book had the race’s length right, but the on-track crew works off the program graphic when placing the starting gate.

“Despite the correct distance being written in the program, on the overnight, and across [horse] wagering platforms, the race was unfortunately contested at the incorrect distance,” New York Racing Association Spokesman Pat McKenna told the DRF. “NYRA will review its protocols to ensure this scenario does not present itself again.”

The inadvertently shortened race for 2-year-old maidens was won by a horse named War Tax.

Shorter distance in Belmont, too

The wrong-length race was run during the ongoing Belmont at Aqueduct meet, one that was necessitated by nearby Belmont Park’s massive physical overhaul, which is expected to be completed by the second half of 2026.

Aqueduct, however, will be deprived of its neighboring track’s signature event: the Belmont Stakes. For at least this year and the next, that race — the third jewel of the 3-year-old Triple Crown — will be run upstate at historic Saratoga Race Course.

The Belmont is usually run at 1-1/2 miles, but due to perceptions of fairness related to differences between Saratoga’s dirt oval and that of the peerlessly vast Big Sandy, this year’s race — which will be run on June 8 — will be contested at 1-1/4 miles.

For purists, that won’t be ideal — but at least it will be on purpose.

Photo: Getty Images.