Aqueduct’s fall meet will feature 26 stakes worth $5.3 million

Photo:

Walter Wlodarczyk / NYRA

The New York Racing Association announced the stakes schedule for the 2024 fall meet at Aqueduct, which will offer 26 stakes, nine of them graded events, worth a total of $5.33 million.

After the Belmont at the Big A fall meet, which spans Thursday, Sept. 13, through Sunday, Nov. 3, the 26-day Aqueduct fall meet will run from Thursday, Nov. 7, through Sunday, Dec. 29.

The Aqueduct fall meet will be highlighted by the Grade 2, $500,000 Cigar Mile Handicap for 3-year-olds and upward on Saturday, Dec. 7.

The lucrative Cigar Mile Day program co-features the $250,000 Remsen (G2) for 2-year-olds going nine furlongs as well as the nine-furlong $250,000 Demoiselle (G2) for juvenile fillies. Also slated for the card is the $200,000 Go for Wand Handicap (G3) for fillies and mares 3 years old and upward traveling a one-turn mile over the main track.

?

The stakes action begins on Friday, Nov. 8, with the $175,000 Pebbles (G3) for sophomore fillies going one mile on the turf along with the $150,000 Autumn Days, a six-furlong turf sprint for fillies and mares 3 years old and up.

Stakes action continues on Saturday, Nov. 9, with the $300,000 Red Smith (G2) for 3-year-olds and upward going 11 furlongs on the grass; the $200,000 Hill Prince (G3) at nine furlongs on turf for sophomores; and the listed $150,000 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship for 3-year-olds and up going six furlongs.

On Sunday, Nov. 10, fillies and mares 3 years old and upward will contest the $300,000 Long Island (G3) going 11 furlongs over the grass, and fillies and mares 3 years old and up will contest the $135,000 Forever Together at 1 1/16 miles on turf.

Stakes action resumes on Saturday, Nov. 16, with a pair of 2-year-old stakes, the listed $150,000 Central Park at one-mile on turf and the $100,000 Notebook, a six-furlong main-track sprint for New York-breds. The following day will see the final turf stakes of the meet in the $135,000 Tepin for juvenile fillies traveling one mile along with the $100,000 Key Cents at six furlongs on the main track for state-bred juvenile fillies.

Thanksgiving weekend will feature a pair of stakes events in the listed $150,000 Fall Highweight Handicap for 3-year-olds and upward going six furlongs on Friday, Nov. 29, and the $200,000 Comely (G3) for sophomore fillies going nine furlongs on Saturday, Nov. 30.

The New York Stallion Stakes Series, open to progeny of eligible New York sires, returns to the Big A with four divisions offered. Saturday, Nov. 23, will feature the $125,000 NYSSS Thunder Rumble for 3-year-olds and up sprinting seven furlongs on the main track, as well as the $125,000 NYSSS Staten Island for fillies and mares 3 years old and up at the same distance.

The NYSSS returns for a pair of $500,000 stakes for juveniles on Saturday, Dec. 14, with a lucrative card that will see eligible New York-sired fillies contest the NYSSS Fifth Avenue at seven furlongs and the NYSSS Great White Way going the same distance.

After an 11-day break from Dec. 16 to Dec. 26, the stakes schedule concludes with the $100,000 Bay Ridge for New York-bred fillies and mares 3 years old and up going a one-turn mile on Friday, Dec. 27, one day before the $100,000 Alex M. Robb for state-breds 3 years old and up at the same distance.

Rounding out the yearly stakes action are the listed $150,000 Gravesend for 3-year-olds and upward going six furlongs on Saturday, Dec. 28, and the listed $150,000 Queens County for 3-year-olds and upward going nine furlongs on Sunday, Dec. 29.