In The Money Telegraph
Monday, June 29, 2026 · By ITM Staff
A quieter Monday after a loud weekend — a track said goodbye, a champion got beat, and a new older-horse leader announced himself. Let’s sweep it up.
The Big A Takes Its Final Bow
It’s done. After 132 years, Aqueduct ran the last live card in its history on Sunday, and the old place got the send-off it deserved. A crowd of 6,866 turned out in Ozone Park — some lined up at the gates by 9 a.m., more than four hours before the first race — for a day NYRA built entirely around the track’s past, with every race named for a horse, person, or moment from the Big A’s history.
The very last race ever run at Aqueduct, fittingly called the “It Was a Good Run,” went to Assume Nothing for owner Darryl Abramowitz, who could barely get through describing what the moment meant to him and the family members who came up in the game with him. Earlier, young trainer Amelia Green took the final stakes in track history, the John Hettinger, with Highway Harmony, and Chad Summers won the opener before Kendrick Carmouche led a group of riders up into the grandstand to celebrate with the fans.
NYRA boss Dave O’Rourke called it bittersweet but, in the end, “a good way to send her off.” The building stays open for simulcasting through September 7; live racing now heads north to Saratoga, and the reimagined Belmont Park reopens September 18 with the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup. The full farewell at BloodHorse →
Around the Sport
Magnitude rules a record Stephen Foster. The weekend’s marquee race delivered an emphatic winner — just not the one most of the windows expected. Magnitude broke clean through the gate before the start, was reloaded after a quick check, and then wired the field anyway under Jose Ortiz, holding off a late-running Baeza by 1¼ lengths in the $2 million Grade 1. Reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty, sent off at 4-5, never landed a blow and flattened out for a second straight loss to open his season. It’s a third Stephen Foster for trainer Steve Asmussen — after Curlin (2008) and Gun Runner (2017), both of whom came out of the Dubai World Cup just as Magnitude did this spring, and both of whom went on to be named Horse of the Year. Magnitude earned a career-best 110 Brisnet figure and an automatic berth into the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland. Recap at BloodHorse →
A record day at the windows. Stephen Foster Day handled $22.3 million, up 13% on last year and a Churchill record for any card outside the Derby, Oaks, or a Breeders’ Cup. Magnitude now ships to Saratoga, with Asmussen pointing him down the exact path Gun Runner took to Horse of the Year in 2017 — starting in the Whitney. Details at TDN →
Irad’s first spring crown. Irad Ortiz Jr. wrapped up his first Churchill Downs Spring Meet riding title, his second CD championship overall after last fall, closing the stand with 64 wins. More at TDN →
Deep Flame sizzles in the Maxfield. On the same closing-day card at Churchill, Brad Cox and Irad combined to win the Maxfield (G3) with the improving Deep Flame, the 100th graded stakes winner for his sire, Into Mischief. Chart and notes at TDN →
Capping the Card: Presque Isle Downs
Closer to today’s action, Chance Rains is back with his latest Presque Isle Downs card — and he opens it, fittingly, by tipping his cap to the Big A, the track where he picked his very first winner before Presque Isle’s tapeta ever entered the picture. From there it’s a full eight-race card, first post 3:30 p.m. ET, with a selection in every spot.
One handicapping nugget Chance jotted down off Andy Serling’s call on the Aqueduct broadcast and carried straight into his analysis: be wary of backing a post-time favorite to do something it has never done before. Words to bet by. Read Chance’s full card →
One More for the Big A
A piece of Aqueduct nostalgia worth your time: James Escarcega dug up and shared the legendary profile of the Big A narrated by the late Pete Axthelm, featuring NYRA broadcasting legend Harvey Pack, from NBC’s coverage of the second Breeders’ Cup — held at Aqueduct in 1985. It’s the perfect companion to our look back at the track’s ten greatest races. Watch the clip on X →
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