New York City horse racing rumbled to the finish line Sunday, as Aqueduct Racetrack — in all its paint-peeling, dilapidated glory — staged the venue’s last live races, transporting aging fans to a bygone era.
Trumpeters played “Auld Lang Syne” and “Call to the Post” ahead of the ninth race of the day and final one ever at the 132-year-old racecourse in the South Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens.
Minutes later, jockey Jaime Rodriguez guided Kentucky-bred gelding Assume Nothing across the finish line at 5:50 p.m. ET, capturing the 1 ⅛-mile race and bringing a curtain on the venerable track.
Rodriguez and his fellow riders then waded into a crowd of 6,886 to celebrate this bittersweet moment.
“This is where everything started for me, and winning the last race here today on the last day [of live racing], it’s going to be a memory I’ll never forget,” Rodriguez said.
Aqueduct will remain open for simulcast wagering until Sept. 7 and then completely shut its doors.
Fall, winter and spring horse racing in metro New York will then be staged exclusively at the renovated Belmont Park, just on the other side of the Queens-Nassau County line, starting Sept. 18.
Retired librarian and Queens native Ursula Nupp wiped away tears as horses loaded into the gate for the ninth.
“This is my childhood,” Nupp said of the track known locally as the Big A.
“It’s just everything. It’s like all the decades just passed in front of me,” Nupp said.
Even as he was smiling, 79-year-old fan Antoine de Bar said the thought of horses no longer running at Aqueduct was too sad to grasp.
“This is a horrible day,” the French immigrant and Westchester County resident said Sunday.
“Oh, my God, I can’t believe that two hours from now, there will be no racing here,” de Bar said.
While lamenting the end of live racing at Aqueduct, de Bar recalled that his most fond memory of the Big A came when using Aqueduct’s simulcast wagering service of the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2018, and his $250 place and $250 show bets on 30-1 Gunnevera netted him more than $4,000 that day before tipping the pari-mutuel teller $100.
That track employee told him a week later that he used the gratuity to take his wife to a fine dinner, and de Bar said that memory was more valuable than the four-grand payout.
“Everybody from New York City comes here. Everyone is mixed together,” he said. “Nobody is above anyone else.”
Aqueduct joined a long list of onetime great American racetracks that have faded into history in and near some of the nation’s largest cities.
- Hollywood Park, in Inglewood, California, used to be a celebrity haven in the golden age of Tinseltown before closing its doors in 2013. It’s now the site of SoFi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers.
- Arlington Park in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights closed down in 2021.
- The San Francisco Bay Area no longer has live racing after Golden Gate Fields went dark in 2024 and Bay Meadows ended racing in 2008.
- Suffolk Downs, near Boston, last staged live racing in 2019.
Joanne Bedard, 70, said she fears the sport could be dying because its most devoted fans are rapidly aging. She recalled coming to Aqueduct earlier this month and being struck by the fans she saw.
“People were all bringing their grandfathers here and half of them were in walkers,” the Long Island native said Sunday, adding that young, potential horse racing fans don’t have the patience to wait more than 20 minutes between races. “They’re too busy betting [rapidly] on their phones.”
The 100-acre-plus racetrack is owned by the state of New York, and horse racing fan Jay Alvarez, 64, hopes Albany can keep the site sports-oriented.
His dream would be to bring the New York football Giants and Jets back to the Empire State from New Jersey.
“Could you imagine having the World Cup here [like at SoFi Stadium], getting off the highway or off the plane and, boom, you’re right here?” said Alvarez, who grew up and still lives in Connecticut.
“I don’t understand why you have to go to New Jersey for New York football,” he said.
Frank Berhardini, a 62-year-old backhoe operator from Staten Island, said he’s been coming to Aqueduct since age 7 and will never forget watching greats like Secretariat and Holy Bull run at this track.
“I’ve seen them all, the great jockeys, the great horses, the great trainers,” the Brooklyn native said Sunday. “So this is a sad, really sad day for me. It’s a heartbreaking thing.”
