Saturday will mark the final time a trio of Aqueduct Racetrack’s most storied races are held at the Big A. The Cigar Mile, Demoiselle, and Remsen - each currently a Grade 2 event - have provided many iconic moments during their respective histories.
With Aqueduct scheduled to close following the completion of the new Belmont Park, these races will be transferred to Belmont to open a new chapter for New York racing. The Aqueduct editions of these celebrated contests, meanwhile, will live on in memory and the record books. HISTORY
The inaugural running of the event, then known as the NYRA Mile Handicap or simply the NYRA Mile, was won in 1988 by three-year-old Forty Niner, who would later become an influential sire. The race was eligible for graded stakes classification in 1990 and was awarded Grade I status by the American Graded Stakes Committee.
The 1994 NYRA Mile was the second race in the 16-race win streak of Cigar, who won by seven lengths. The event was renamed in 1997 following Cigar's retirement to the Cigar Mile Handicap. Horses who have won the Cigar Mile on their way to championship honors include 2006 winner Discreet Cat (named one of the year's champion three-year-olds in the World's Best Racehorse Rankings), 2009 winner Kodiak Kowboy (winner of that year's Eclipse Award for Champion Sprinter), and 2019 victor Maximum Security (that year's Eclipse winner for Best Three-Year-Old Male).
- Nothing could be better than a day in September, about 39 degrees and snow falling and betting horses at aqueduct. Thanks for the memories, could never beat it
- Great image of the original grandstand at the start of the video. My first trip to Aqueduct was in 1974 & Step Nicely was the first stakes winner I witnessed. 3rd floor grandstand had the finest view in all of horse racing.
- May 21,1978 my only time @ Aqueduct. Saw John Henry win a claiming race, amazing what his career became
SAVE YOUR EYES, PRESS PLAY TO LISTEN
With Aqueduct scheduled to close following the completion of the new Belmont Park, these races will be transferred to Belmont to open a new chapter for New York racing. The Aqueduct editions of these celebrated contests, meanwhile, will live on in memory and the record books. HISTORY
The inaugural running of the event, then known as the NYRA Mile Handicap or simply the NYRA Mile, was won in 1988 by three-year-old Forty Niner, who would later become an influential sire. The race was eligible for graded stakes classification in 1990 and was awarded Grade I status by the American Graded Stakes Committee.
The 1994 NYRA Mile was the second race in the 16-race win streak of Cigar, who won by seven lengths. The event was renamed in 1997 following Cigar's retirement to the Cigar Mile Handicap. Horses who have won the Cigar Mile on their way to championship honors include 2006 winner Discreet Cat (named one of the year's champion three-year-olds in the World's Best Racehorse Rankings), 2009 winner Kodiak Kowboy (winner of that year's Eclipse Award for Champion Sprinter), and 2019 victor Maximum Security (that year's Eclipse winner for Best Three-Year-Old Male).
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- Aqueduct was my home track when I worked on the backstretch and I have so many fond memories from there. Hitting the flea market in the parking lot on the weekends, the years when a small carnival set up in the parking lot in the summer...I had so much fun there. I'm gonna miss the place, but it will always be in my heart. ❤🏇❤- Nothing could be better than a day in September, about 39 degrees and snow falling and betting horses at aqueduct. Thanks for the memories, could never beat it
- Great image of the original grandstand at the start of the video. My first trip to Aqueduct was in 1974 & Step Nicely was the first stakes winner I witnessed. 3rd floor grandstand had the finest view in all of horse racing.
- May 21,1978 my only time @ Aqueduct. Saw John Henry win a claiming race, amazing what his career became
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