Aqueduct Racetrack

The weather did not bother 'TDN Rising Star' Ways and Means (Practical Joke--Strong Incentive, by Warrior's Reward) as she skimmed the Aqueduct slop and easily took home the GII Gallant Bloom Stakes on Sunday afternoon. Last seen capturing the GI Test Stakes at Saratoga Aug. 3, that effort came on the back of a career best two back--at least on paper--over a Saratoga first-level allowance group June 6. She'd dominated those rivals by 8 1/4 lengths and earned a 104 Beyer, stronger than anything else this field had managed to...

Whatever Next? It's as big a question for the throwback gelding of that name as for his sire, both standing at an exciting crossroads in their respective careers. Next's domination of a niche division of the American Turf is now such that he may now try to adapt to a more competitive, mainstream discipline at the Breeders' Cup. But whether this switch concerns distance or surface, in the Classic or Turf respectively, nobody should be surprised if the gray proves equal to the challenge. For his sire Not This Time...

Globe-trotting jockey Frankie Dettori dislocated his shoulder when he was unseated from his mount at the gate prior to the start of Thursday's ninth race at Aqueduct. While not considered a serious injury, agent Ron Anderson was not sure how long Dettori will be sidelined. "He dislocated his shoulder and they put it back in," Anderson said. "We're going to see [orthopedist] Steve O'Brien as quick as we can get him in. It's a day-to-day thing. He is sore. We will see." Anderson said the news could have been worse....

After his racing career is complete this year, Blazing Sevens (Good Magic), the winner of the GI Champagne Stakes at two and the runner-up in the GI Preakness Stakes, will stand at Darby Dan for 2025, the farm said via a press release on Thursday. A stud fee for the 'TDN Rising Star' and future stallion will be named before the year is out and plans are being finalized syndicate him. Peter Bradley, bloodstock advisor for owner Rodeo Creek Racing, brokered the deal to stand the son of Good Magic...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There could be another weekend of racing at Saratoga Race Course in 2025, if a plan being considered by the New York Racing Association is adopted. Although the racing would take place at the historic upstate facility, NYRA officials said it technically would not be an expansion of the 40-day Saratoga season. If the proposal is approved, the Fourth of July weekend--July 4 falls on a Friday--at Saratoga would be the final days of the Belmont of Aqueduct meet. The Saratoga season would begin on Thursday,...

On Nov. 9 last year, veteran trainer Steve Klesaris shipped his mare She's Awesome from Delaware Park to Aqueduct to compete in the second race. When she arrived, the receiving barns were full, and so, She's Awesome (Flatter) was sent instead to the track's auxiliary stabling, used as an overflow. The auxiliary barn is adjacent to staff bathrooms, with a lot of foot traffic through it, said Klesaris. It's also used to stable ponies, he added. She's Awesome won that day. But a post-race test came up positive for the...

The Belmont at the Big A fall meeting will feature 50 stakes races worth $10.35 million, officials at the New York Racing Association (NYRA) announced Thursday. Thirty-one days of racing are scheduled at Aqueduct Racetrack, which will once again stage the meeting due to the ongoing construction at Belmont Park. The meet begins on Friday, Sept. 13 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 3. Three Grade I contests for on the flat and six Breeders' Cup Challenge races are to be run, including the first of the elite-level events, the $500,000...

It almost feels like he's on the other end of some celestial phoneline, listening in and smiling. Because somehow Marty Wygod seems to have arranged things so that family and friends, since mourning his loss in April, could be consoled by an afterglow of the same vitality that had sustained his 84 years. First a colt gifted to his daughter Emily Bushnell and longtime racing adviser Ric Waldman took them to the GI Kentucky Derby; and now another graduate of his program has assisted its transition with a $2.4 million...

Manny Franco was the leading rider and Chad Brown took the leading trainer title at the 35-day Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet which concluded Sunday. Franco, 29, topped the table on the heels of a prosperous Aqueduct spring meet where he won the title with 28 wins. He visited the winner's circle 41 times as part of a 210-41-41-25 record with $3,148,141 in earnings at the Belmont meeting. "It's special. I have never won this one before, so it's amazing," said Franco. "I'm so happy to have the...

Klaravich Stable's Headline Numbers (Gun Runner) became the latest to impress from the family of breeder Happy Alter's Withmom'sapproval (With Approval) with an effortless last-to-first victory at Belmont at Aqueduct Thursday. The 8-5 favorite, settled at the back of the field down the backstretch. She rushed up rapidly while four wide on the far turn and took charge into the lane before skipping effortlessly clear down the lane to score by 11 3/4 lengths and become the latest 'TDN Rising Star.' Headline Numbers, a $325,000 KEESEP yearling, has a 2-year-old...

4th-Belmont The Big A, $90,000, Msw, 6-23, 2yo, 6fT, 1:08.85, fm, 1 1/4 lengths. PHAROAH'S DYNASTY (c, 2, American Pharoah--Funfair {SW}, by More Than Ready) went off as the 5-2 second choice for this debut and the colt wasted no time wrangling the lead away from a longshot up the backstretch. Looking awfully professional around the far turn, the 2-year-old gunned his engine down the lane and graduated at first asking by 1 1/4 lengths over West Beach (Omaha Beach). The last registered foal for his dam, the winner is...

Dual graded stakes-winner Dornoch (Good Magic) is preparing at Saratoga Race Course for a potential start in the June 8 running of the GI Belmont S. "He loves it here," said trainer Danny Gargan. "He'll probably work Friday--we'll get a solid work in him over the Oklahoma." Dornoch was last seen finishing a troubled 10th in the GI Kentucky Derby where he drew the rail and was shuffled back at the half-mile call. He checked again at the quarter pole before running evenly down the lane. The bay colt posted...