NYRA rolls out 2018 Aqueduct Winter & Spring stakes schedule

by NYRA Press Office

Aqueduct Racetrack’s 2018 Winter and Spring meets will feature 51 stakes worth more than $7 million in purses, highlighted by the Big A’s traditional spring showcase, the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 7.

The 2018 Winter meet will feature four new stakes races: the $100,000 La Verdad for New York-bred fillies and mares at seven furlongs on January 6 and its male counterpart, the $100,000 Say Florida Sandy for New York-bred sprinters on January 13, the $100,000 Bridgetown for 3-year-old turf sprinters and the $100,000 Mizdirection for sophomore fillies sprinting on the grass on April 14 and 15, respectively.

New York’s “Road to the Kentucky Derby” will waste no time in 2018 with the Grade 3, $150,000 Jerome on New Year’s Day for 3-year-olds at a mile, followed on February 3 by the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers at 1 1/8 miles, each worth 10-4-2-1 points to the top four finishers towards a spot in the Derby on May 5 at Churchill Downs. 

The Derby prep season will heat up the following month with the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham (50-20-10-5 points) at a mile on March 10 as a precursor to the 1 1/8-mile Wood Memorial (100-40-20-10 points), which anchors an outstanding day of thoroughbred racing on Saturday, April 7. 

One of five graded stakes on the card, the Wood Memorial will be joined by the 118th running of the Grade 1, $400,000 Carter Handicap for 4-year-olds and up at seven furlongs; the Grade 2, $300,000 Gazelle for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles, the final Aqueduct prep for the Kentucky Oaks; the Grade 3, $250,000 Bay Shore for sophomore sprinters; and the Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior for older horses at 1 1/8 miles.

Turf stakes return on Wood Memorial weekend with the third running of the $100,000 Danger's Hour for 4-year-olds and up at a mile on the grass on Sunday, April 8.

Rounding out the graded stakes for the 2018 Aqueduct Spring Showcase meet are two traditional graded stakes for fillies and mares in the Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff Handicap at seven furlongs on April 8 and the Grade 3, $200,000 Top Flight Invitational Handicap at 1 1/8 miles on Sunday, April 15.

The $100,000 Memories of Silver for 3-year-old fillies on the grass and the $100,000 New York Stallion Series Times Square Division will bring down the curtain on closing day of the spring meet at the Big A, Sunday, April 22, before live racing moves to Belmont Park on Friday, April 27.

Click For Full Stakes Schedule