Swan Song Rehearsal

The sun shined bright on my old South Queens Home, Aqueduct, site of many a Saturday's adventures, and sometimes a mid-week hooky from work.

Aqueduct's days are numbered. No one is saying what the number is, but they're numbered. Five years from now the place will likely no longer exist. Aqueduct housing might.

The Assembled met on Saturday May 10th, a little later in the calendar than usual. First time taking in Aqueduct for what is called the Belmont at Aqueduct Meet: BAQ in the past performances if you're interested.

Now that all of us are on Medicare, Johnny D. made the crack that if we show our Medicare cards at the gate, we get in for free. Bobby G. looked at him and said, "everyone gets in free at Aqueduct." Johnny D. replied: "See, It works."

We hadn't seen each other at the track since last April. It was a bell weather day, with no wind. The turf courses were lush and green. However, because of Friday's downpour, two of the 4 races carded for the turf were run on the main track. the two stakes turf races  remained on the green, as expected. The track was fast. It was a good card. There were 5 stakes race of the 11 run on the day.

Everyone made it there before the first race, with Bobby G getting here just a little before the first race, but still in time to bet. Bobby G. once again was complaining about the parking, which is worth complaining about. There are acres of space not used, blocked off with barriers. At least this time Bob wasn't parked next to the ambulance, which is far better than better than being in the ambulance.

Updates were shared about how many grandkids there are now and what they're up to. Bobby G., as the oldest,  has the oldest grandkids with a granddaughter who is an Ob-Gyn resident at Bellevue, continuing in the family medical profession. Personal medical updates were shared, with no life-threatening ailments disclosed. 

Bobby G will be 89 in August, and of course 90 in 2026. It was pointed out to him that he was going to be 90! and Belmont still wasn't going to be opened yet, not reopening till October 2026. That's a lot to live for, and a lot of time left to live until it happens. Hopefully there won't be any of us wearing memorial T-shirts for a departed member. 

Of the two downstate tracks, Aqueduct and Belmont, Aqueduct always had the best sight lines for watching a race. Unfortunately, the place itself is a sight. The track is great. The infrastructure and clientele not so much.

Basically, only the first and second floors are open, and only a few sections of the seats. Everyone is herded into a few remaining open sections outside, with those inside accommodated as if they're in an OTB. The place looks a bit like it's inhabited from a welfare or unemployment office, with maybe a homeless person or two living out of a hefty bag.

Lots of simulcasting, and Game #3 of the Knicks/Celtics was on in the afternoon, with the Knicks getting blown out. There is no smoking indoors, and shouldn't be outdoors, but no one enforces it. As such, there are piles of cigarette butts accumulating by the door leading to the outside. The fellow who sweeps just picks up discard tickets into his scooper: the butts are left behind. Quite a place. Of course even before entering the smell of marijuana is evident. In the seats, a contact high might be possible. Thanks Governor.

There is pretty much no labor overhead in running the place. There are only live cashiers on the first floor. Bobby G bets on his phone. Johnny D. bought a $60 voucher from one of  the voucher terminals, and cashed on the first floor for $58. Not a bad day, but just didn't get over the top. José doesn't like to use the machines, so he goes down to the first floor to make bets with one of the few tellers. 

But, despite the complete lack of ambience, betting is the objective, and a decent card of  11 races was on tap, with 5 stake races.

Johnny D. always arrives with a downloaded Daily Racing Form traditional pps secured on a clipboard. Say this about the Daily Racing Form, they are in the 21st century. An online, downloaded card cost $4.25, which compares favorably to the at least $7 you would need to spend to get a watered down, Equibase set of pps which do not carry the Beyer Speed Ratings. 

Bobby G. doesn't do any advance study of the card, and just arrives buying a set of pps at the track. Unfortunately he wasn't aware there are basically three varieties to choose from: Equibase, $7; $10; for the short number of tracks Daily Racing Form traditional pps, or $11 for a more complete booklet of tracks being run. Downloading, if you have a home printer, is always best if you are only going to bet one track.

There are no creature comforts at Aqueduct, and only one place in the entire track from which you can buy something to eat. Johnny D. gets nothing, José brought a banana, but Bobby G. needs more sustenance, so he always sets off in search of the clam chowder.

And since he was fighting with his inadequate version of the pps he was able to upgrade at the track newsstand to a better set of pps. He also got his clam chowder, which is always worth having.

Someone must have gotten the Harry M. Stevens recipe for Manhattan clam chowder, because that was historically the only good thing about Harry M. Stevens, the longtime holder of the concession rights at NYRA and New York ballparks, whose help never went to charm school, the most embittered bunch of employees you could ever come across. They never had any good days, and pretty much did their best to ruin yours.

With all the annoyances absorbed, betting is the thing. Numerologists would have had a winning day if they liked the #4, since the 4-horse won 5 of the 11 races; three in a row at one point.

Linda Rice, maybe the most successful female trainer, who has won meet training titles at Saratoga and downstate, took two races. Michelle Giangiulio took another with the #4 horse in the 4th race, Quick to Accuse, for her first win at the meet, and only her third win this year in 37 starts.

Years ago there was no such thing as a female trainer. Despite Michelle's apparent anemic record, she attracted Irad Jose Jr., always a leading rider. There were other female trainers on the card as well.

Joel Rosario, always a threat when riding turf, won the two turf races. A horse he was riding in the 7th race went down, but he was unhurt because he was back riding the next race.

Johnny D's homework and numbers, which can take a few hours to put together on an 11 race card, were paying dividends, Unfortunately, the prices were low, so it was tough to win out over the $60 voucher. One $1 exacta paid $3.65; another was more decent at $19.

Bobby G. hit a few races, with low returns; José hit a decent $1 exacta. The last race was the so-called Peter Pan, a race that has emerged as a major New York prep race for the Belmont Stakes at 1½ miles. But, with Belmont being rebuilt. the Belmont has been run, and will be run two more times at Saratoga at 1¼. Saratoga cannot have a 1½ mile dirt race with a start that doesn't begin on a turn.

How a race came to be named after an elfin boy in green tights played on the stage by a woman, Mary Martin, who flies and doesn't want to grow up, is beyond me, but Peter Pan it is. Actually, the race is named after the horse Peter Pan who won the Belmont Stakes in 1907, which no one on earth is now alive who might have seen him run. The race is run strictly for 3-year-olds at a mile and a eighth, and as such attracts horses who are being auditioned for the Belmont Stakes. How a horse came to be named Peter Pan is not known. (I have very distant Greek cousins who operate a diner named Peter Pan in Bayshore, Long Island, opened in the 1950s.)

So, with all that went on on Saturday, did Chad Brown and Flavian Prat win a race? You betcha. The Peter Pan was won easily by Hill Road, the second morning line choice at 5/2, who won easily at 2-1. I missed having an obvious choice.

Hill Road was one of 7 of the 9 horses in the race nominated for the Triple Crown. Expect to see more of the $350,000 yearling purchase from $150,000 Quality Road stud fee to a Lemon Drop Kid mare, Exotic Notion. Lemon Drop Kid won the 1999 Belmont. There is distance in Hill Road's breeding. Hill Road went the distance in a very credible 1:491/5. 

What's next? The hope is that we all make it to the re-opening of Belmont in October 2026. No one wants to go to Aqueduct anymore, and it is doubtful we'll be back for it in 2026.

And since my first day at the races was at what was then in 1968 the re-opening of the new Belmont, and Bobby G's memory of going to Jamaica Race Track (yes Virginia, there was a Jamaica Racetrack in Jamaica, Queens) we should get in for free, even without our Medicare cards.

Note: The story goes that Sid Luft, one of Judy Garland's husbands, said to Judy that they were going to go to Jamaica in the afternoon.  Judy got excited and went out shopping for tropical wear, thinking they were going to fly to the island of Jamaica. Sid took her to the track and the Daily Double, where Judy had to be the best dressed patron there, if not the most surprised.

Jamaica Race Track opened in 1903, and closed in 1959 and was reached by the Locust Manor stop on the LIRR. Aqueduct can be reached by taking the subway A Train to Aqueduct. One of the races on Saturday's card was named Take the A Train.

Half a century ago I was in Toronto and took in a day at Greenwood Racetrack, now no longer there. It was said then it was the last track in North America to be reached by a trolley. 

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