Aqueduct Racetrack

After taking home the Central Park Stakes trophy with Jack and Jim (Slumber {GB}) at the Big A on Saturday, trainer Graham Motion made it back to the winner's circle when Laurelin (Ire) (Zarak {Fr}) got up in time to take the Tepin Stakes on Sunday. The chestnut broke her maiden for the Maryland-based conditioner by 1 1/2 lengths over the same grass course Oct. 13, but that was not enough to install her as the favorite in the bettor's minds. As a 4-1 shot here, the filly settled mid-pack...

Still undefeated now in four starts, 'TDN Rising Star' With the Angels added a third consecutive stakes win Sunday with the Key Cents Stakes at Aqueduct. Stepped up in distance while facing New York-breds in each of her three prior starts, she cut back here to six furlongs (her winning debut distance) off the one-mile Maid of the Mist Stakes Oct. 27. Kept in this spot instead of chasing open company in next month's GII Demoiselle Stakes, With the Angels took all the money as the 1-5 chalk but, for...

Integration's well-timed throttle management in the more than capable hands of jockey Flavien Prat worked to perfection as the 4-year-old swooped in late to take the featured GII Red Smith Stakes at Aqueduct on Saturday afternoon. After a stellar start to his career in 2023, which saw the $700,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale buy graduate on debut by 6 1/2 lengths over the turf at Colonial Downs, then score in the GIII Virginia Derby and the GII Hill Prince Stakes at the Big A, Integration hit the board in the...

If only those walls could talk. There's a room from a bygone era within the press box at Aqueduct Racetrack where members of the media congregated between races. The space's counter is still there, but you have to use your imagination when it comes to what the scene looked like in the old days. The latches on the windows that are now worn with time would be thrown open to let in the sounds of the oval below, while the crisp white shades from the fixtures would have adequately illuminated...

While her connections passed on an opportunity in the Breeders' Cup next weekend, 'TDN Rising Star' With the Angels (Omaha Beach) kept things rolling in New York with yet another stakes win in Sunday's Maid of the Mist Stakes. Dubbed a 'Rising Star' at Saratoga with an 11 1/2-length romp against New York-breds Aug. 22, she stepped out an additional furlong and put 9 3/4 lengths on the field in the Joseph A. Gimma Stakes Sept. 22. The no-doubt favorite at 1-9 trying the flat mile Sunday, With the Angels...

6th-BAQ, $90K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 3:16 p.m. ET. DIVINE ROSE (Good Magic) has reached her unveiling under the watchful eye of trainer Cherie DeVaux. The John Gunther and Eurowest homebred is a half-sister to GI Central Bank Ashland Stakes heroine and 'TDN Rising Star' Leslie's Rose (Into Mischief). Both are out of unraced Wildwood Rose (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who herself is a half-sister to GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up My Miss Sophia (Unbridled's Song)--the dam of 'TDN Rising Star' and current sire Annapolis (War Front). Also set for a...

A well-bred daughter of Dubawi (Ire), Opulent Restraint donned cap and gown at second asking upstate Sept. 1. The gray was well-backed by the public here at 75 cents on the dollar. Settling at the rear of the field into the first turn with Rare Art (Munnings), the filly was on hold up the backstretch, but started to get underway before the top of the lane. Shifting into high gear in the three path, the juvenile took command with a furlong left and despite a challenge from her rival Rare...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--Even though Incurable Optimist (Cure the Blues) does not appear anywhere in Edict's (Arg) (Il Campione (Chi)) pedigree, think of her as a direct descendent of the precocious 1998 New York-bred Horse of the Year, who became a top sire in Argentina. Family ties notwithstanding, there is a straight line between Incurable Optimist and Edict, who will make her first start in the U.S. in the listed $150,000 Athenia Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack on Saturday. Their connections, stretching across decades, are rock solid: from owner John Behrendt, through...

Spaliday came running late to annex the GII Sands Point Stakes at Aqueduct Saturday. The 3-1 shot lost contact with the field, trailing a strung-out bunch as Macanga led by some six lengths down the backstretch. Spaliday made rapid progress on the far turn and rallied powerfully in deep stretch to just edge the pacesetter for her first graded stakes score. "Around the three-eighths marker, I was looking to see if she could hit the board in this race because I didn't think she could get there," said winning trainer...

Raging Sea, who upset champion Idiomatic (Curlin) in the GI Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga last time out, will likely head next to the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff after outbattling a stubborn Batucada in the GII Beldame Stakes at Aqueduct Sunday. The 1-9 favorite was allowed to settle into stride and was unhurried while racing off the early pace. She rushed up into contention on the bend and came with a full head of steam as longshot Batucada turned for home with a one-length advantage. Raging Sea eyeballed the gray...

Tickets, please! Keeneland's fall meet has the turnstiles primed Friday and that means the featured GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes will fill the apron on what promises to be massive weekend with some 30 graded races across North America--half of which have Breeders' Cup implications. The signature top-level race at the site of the Old Keene Farm was named for a foundational mare who was bred at Hal Price Headley's Beaumont--where modern-day Mill Ridge resides. Alcibiades won the 1930 Kentucky Oaks for Headley, who was one the Keeneland Association's founders and...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has promoted Rob MacLennan, effectively immediately, to the position of racing secretary, according to a press release from the track on Wedensday. MacLennan joined NYRA in April 2021 as a racing official and was serving as the assistant racing secretary. He arrived at NYRA after employment as the racing secretary at Century Mile and Century Downs in Canada. A licensed racing official, MacLennan joins Keith Doleshel, senior director of racing, who also holds the secretary title in overseeing the writing of condition books...