NYRA to mark Aqueduct Racetrack's final race weekend June 27-28

Aqueduct Racetrack’s last race weekend will not be treated like a routine end-of-meet checkout. The New York Racing Association will turn June 27-28 into a closing ceremony for the Big A, with the final live card set for Sunday, June 28, and a track that has carried New York racing through winter and spring meets for generations.

That matters because Aqueduct has never been just another stop on the circuit. Opened on September 27, 1894, on land tied to the old Brooklyn Water Works, it began as a utilitarian Queens oval and grew into one of the sport’s defining places. The rebuilt track reopened in 1959 after a $34.5 million renovation that drew 42,473 fans, including Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and brought 18 escalators, an elevator, 20,000 seats and 14,000 more in air-conditioned restaurants and lounges. The closure marks the end of a venue that has been both functional and iconic, the place where claimers and regional stakes horses shared the same stage as legends.

NYRA is making the farewell feel ceremonial on purpose. Both closing-weekend race days will be ticketed because of capacity constraints and expected demand. Each $5 ticket will include a commemorative program, and part of the proceeds will go to the NYRA Foundation. The first 1,000 guests through the gates on June 28 will receive a container of authentic track-used dirt from the main track, a souvenir that says as much about memory as it does about racing. The weekend will also feature giveaways, souvenirs, live entertainment and an art gallery by Henry Kornaros focused on people, horses and scenes from Aqueduct. Free on-site parking will be available, and Longshots, Silks Bar, the Triple Crown Cafe, and Jamaican food and hot dog stands will be open.

The farewell also comes with a heavy historical ledger. Secretariat debuted at Aqueduct on July 4, 1972. Cigar opened the first two wins of his 16-race streak there. Man o’ War, Sword Dancer, Kelso, Buckpasser, Dr. Fager, Forego, Easy Goer and Smarty Jones all built pieces of their legends on the same surface. In 1995, Pope John Paul II celebrated mass before 75,000 people in the infield, the largest crowd in track history. Aqueduct later served the city in different ways too, including as a relief staging area after Superstorm Sandy and as a COVID-19 vaccination site in 2021, where more than 300,000 shots were administered.

The final weekend lands in the middle of a reshaped New York calendar. The Belmont at the Big A meet runs at Aqueduct from April 30 through June 28, with a pause from May 26 through June 2 for Saratoga and a restart on June 11. The spring-summer meet includes 16 stakes worth $2,475,000, led by the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes, whose top three finishers will have Belmont Stakes entry and starting fees waived. Aqueduct’s closing is not just the end of a track date. It is the end of a habit, a winter home and a piece of New York racing identity, even as Belmont Park prepares for its next form later in the year.