Location |
New York City (South Ozone Park, Queens), New York United States |
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Owned by | State of New York |
Operated by | New York Racing Association |
Date opened | September 27, 1894 |
Course type | Flat/Thoroughbred |
Notable races |
Wood Memorial Stakes (G1) Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) Carter Handicap (G1) Gazelle Stakes (G2) Gotham Stakes (G3) |
Official website |
Resorts World New York City | |
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Location | Jamaica, NY 11420 |
Address | 110-00 Rockaway Boulevard |
Opening date | 2011 |
Total gaming space | 330,000-square-foot (31,000 m2) |
Owner | Genting Malaysia Berhad |
Website | www.RWNewYork.com |
Aqueduct Racetrack is a Thoroughbred horse-racing facility and racino in South Ozone Park, Queens, New York City. Its racing meets usually are from late October/early November through April.
Operating near the site of a former conduit of the Brooklyn Waterworks that brought water from eastern Long Island to the Ridgewood Reservoir, Aqueduct Racetrack opened on September 27, 1894 by the Queens County Jockey Club. The track was named "Aqueduct" after the former Ridgewood Aqueduct. The facility was expanded and a new clubhouse was constructed before the 1941 summer meet. In 1955, the Greater New York Association took over Aqueduct along with Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course, and Jamaica Racetrack, deciding to make major upgrades to Aqueduct, after which Jamaica Racetrack would be sold for redevelopment as a housing project. Aqueduct closed in 1956, reopening September 14, 1959 after $33 million of renovations designed by noted racetrack architect Arthur Froehlich of the firm Arthur Froehlich and Associates of Beverly Hills, California. The Equestris Restaurant in the clubhouse opened in 1981 and was the largest restaurant in New York City at the time. Additional renovations were made in 2001, 2006, and 2007.
Before 1976, the Inner Dirt Track was a turf course and was known as the Main Turf Course, with the present turf course being the Inner Turf Course; following the conclusion of racing in 1975 the grass on the Main Turf Course was uprooted and the Inner Dirt Track took its place to permit year-round racing. (In the years after Aqueduct was rebuilt in 1959 the track lay idle from early November until April 1; by 1971 this period had been reduced to from just before Christmas until March 1, around when off-track betting began in New York City, creating a demand for horse racing to be contested in the region year-round.)