The New York Racing Association took time out from prepping for Thursday’s Saratoga Meet opener to announce Aqueduct’s stakes schedule for its fall meet.
Aqueduct’s 18-day fall meet offers 26 stakes races – 10 of those graded – along with $4.9 million in purses. That meet begins Friday, Nov. 5 and runs through Sunday, Dec. 5.
Headlining Big A’s fall meet – as it always does – is the Grade 1 Cigar Mile Handicap, one of the biggest late-season races for 3-year-olds and up. The Cigar Mile highlights Aqueduct’s biggest day: Saturday, Dec. 4, which features four of the meet’s 10 graded stakes events.
The Cigar Mile undercard offers the Grade 2 Remsen, an early Kentucky Derby prep race that sends its 2-year-olds 1 1/8 miles in the quest for 10-4-2-1 Derby qualifying points. Also on the Dec. 4 slate is the Remsen’s filly counterpart, the Grade 2 Demoiselle. That race offers 10-4-2-1 qualifying points toward the 2022 Kentucky Oaks.
The Grade 3 Go For Wand Handicap for fillies and mares 3-and-up rounds out the day’s stakes schedule.
Aqueduct’s Red Smith Handicap gets an upgrade
Aqueduct’s first graded stakes race is the Grade 3 Turnback the Alarm Handicap, which sends its 3-and-up fillies and mares 1 1/8 miles on Saturday, Nov. 6. The Grade 3 Nashua, a mile race for juveniles, runs the same day.
The Big A’s other stakes races include the Grade 2 Red Smith Handicap, which was upgraded from Grade 3 in last year’s grading review. That 1 3/8-mile Nov. 21 race for older males anchors that weekend’s card, which includes the Grade 3 Long Island. That race for 3-year-old and up fillies and mares sends its contestants 1 ½ miles on the Aqueduct Turf.
Aqueduct Key 2021 Fall Meet Stakes Races
| Race | Grade | Distance | Eligible Horses | |
| Nov. 6 | Turnback the Alarm Handicap | 3 | 1 1/8 miles | 3-year-old+ fillies and mares |
| Nov. 6 | Nashua | 3 | 1 mile | 2-year-old mares |
| Nov. 20 | Red Smith Handicap | 2 | 1 3/8 miles | 3-year-old+ fillies and mares |
| Nov. 20 | Long Island | 3 | 1 1/2 miles (turf) | 3-year-old+ fillies and mares |
| Nov. 28 | Fall Highweight Handicap | 3 | 6 furlongs | 3-year-old+ |
| Dec. 4 | Cigar Mile | 1 | 1 mile | 3-year-old+ |
| Dec. 4 | Remsen | 2 | 1 1/8 miles | 2-year-old |
| Dec. 4 | Demoiselle | 2 | 1 1/8 miles | 2-year-old fillies |
| Dec. 4 | Go For Wand | 3 | 1 mile | 3-year-old+ fillies and mares |
The Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap headlines Thanksgiving weekend. That six-furlong sprint for 3-year-old and up males is Sunday, Nov. 28.
The Aqueduct Winter Meet begins Thursday, Dec. 9, four days after the fall meet ends. That offers seven listed or New York-bred stakes races that run through the end of the year.