Going to Aqueduct With Dad

June 28, 2026 is the last day for Aqueduct (The Big A) as a horse racing track. There’s been racing there since 1894. The rest of the property is a huge and expanding casino operation. It has been a “machines only” casino since 2011 and is one of the highest grossing casinos in the Country, primarily from slot machines. The owners of the gambling operation, Resorts World, will now benefit from the legalization of live table games, where they currently have a monopoly position for NYC. Yowza!!!

Anyway, Belmont Racetrack is finishing a 3 year refurbishment and will take over all the downstate horseracing, while upstate Saratoga will still have its Summer meet.

I have fond memories of going to Aqueduct, first with my Dad and later with my high school friends. I’ve been there in recent years too, and it was essentially a depressing adjunct to the casino. The track had served a purpose, to exploit a loophole in NY’s gambling laws, since an electronic “casino” could only legally open in NYC where there was already “gambling”, and a ractrack fit the bill. The race track had to remain open, but started to look like an afterthought. Anyway, it kind of had to go in it’s current form, and will be replaced by all kinds of casino and hotel and shopping expansion, plus more parking.

I’m not sad it’s closing. Aqueduct is getting a well deserved retirement.

With that in mind, and to honor my Dad on Father’s Day, here is ….

GOING TO AQUEDUCT WITH DAD

Sometimes on a Saturday, my Dad would suggest that he and I “head over to The Big A”. Since I was only 7 years old, he wasn’t saying this to me, he was saying it to Mom. I wonder if taking me along made this activity more palatable to her. Sometimes I worried she would say no, but she never did. After a few times, I knew when he suggested it, we were going.

We had a routine. It was always just he and I. Brian (who was 5) only went with us once, but he was “too cranky”. After that he was not asked to go, and he never protested when Dad and I went. The Big A is “Aqueduct”, a race track in Ozone Park, Queens. It’s where the thoroughbreds race in New York when they are not at Belmont or Saratoga. A workingman’s racetrack.

We never parked in the parking lot, always in the street about a mile away. “Why should we pay to park?”, my Dad said. So we walked through Ozone Park, past little houses and Italian grocery stores. When we got inside, Dad bought a program and a Daily Racing Form. The program was small but impressive; it gave you the basic information about each race: the horse names and post positions, the trainers, the owners, the jockeys (including their weights and “colors”). Dad told me that when we picked a horse to bet on, to remember the jockeys colors, especially his cap, so we could see him in the backstretch.

There were 9 races a day, with about 24 minutes between races. We used that time to “study our selections”. The program was just for looking, while the Daily Racing Form was for studying. It had tons more info than the program, including the charts of each horses prior races. I learned how to read it pretty well. You had to look at the distances, times, surfaces, class, weights, jockey changes, trainer changes, and many other factors. Both the program and the racing form had a little “map” showing you where the starting and finish line were for the particular distance.

I always liked a 7 furlong (furlong is an eighth of a mile) race at Aqueduct, because the horses started “in the chute”, and the chart showed that.

We always went and looked at the horses and jockeys in the walking ring, before they went on the track. There was a ritual to this. The horses would be walked around, while the jockeys would stand talking to the trainers. The jockeys would wear different colors for each race, with different colors for different parts of their attire, the program would tell you....”red cap, yellow sleeves, red sashes, polka dot hoops”. I would always check that they had it right.

Dad told me about some of the jockeys. Our favorite was Braulio Baeza. He was from Panama, and although I did not know it then, he was one of the greatest jockeys of all time. I only knew what Dad told me, “Look at Braulio Baeza, he sits on a horse straight and tall and proud. No other jockey sits like him.” It was true.

I always looked at Braulio Baeza first, to make sure he was sitting straight and tall. The other jockey I liked was Manuel Ycaza. I liked him because people called him “Manny”, which was my Dad’s name, plus his last name started with a “Y”. Also, he was known for aggressive riding. I once read in the racing form that he was suspended for “rough riding”. I always hoped to see a race where he did that.

According to my Dad, some jockeys were “good on the turf”, some were better with sprinters than closers, and some jockeys rode well for certain trainers. Who knew if any of this were true? Who cared?

When the horses were ready to go on the track, the jockeys would walk over to their horses, and a booming voice would call out “Put your riders up, please.” At that moment all the trainers would give their jockeys “a leg up” and hoist them up on the horse. Then they would walk once around the walking ring and head to the track.....to the sound of the bugle.

We would follow, Dad would place his bet at the betting window, and then we would watch the race from our special vantage point. We had a stairway bannister leading to the upper grandstand. It was right on the finish line, and we would stand on the bannister and look over with a perfect view. I stood near the top, with Dad to my left, a little further down the bannister. We would wait for the magical voice of the track announcer, Fred Caposella, to say “It is now post time”.

In horse racing, you can’t win every time. We took our defeats in stride, and felt pride in our winners. On the way home we talked about the races. No matter how well or poorly our horses did, we always had a great day at Aqueduct. And, over the years……

When I used to visit Dad in Florida, we always went to the track....there’s a shocker!

When I pick horses now, I focus on the jockeys.

When I used to take my daughter Rebecca to Met games, we’d park on the street in Corona and walk a mile to the Stadium, past little houses and bodegas. I wasn’t paying $18 (now it’s $40) to park, and for some strange reason, parking in the street felt like the right thing to do.

I will always appreciate my memories of the Big A, especially on Father’s Day!

Happy Father’s Day to all!