New York City’s last horse racing track will make its final turn this weekend. After more than 130 years of hosting legendary champions and thrilling spectators, Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens will shut down live racing on Sunday, June 28, marking the end of an iconic chapter in American thoroughbred racing and a fundamental shift in how New York conducts its horse racing operations.
The closure represents far more than the end of a single facility. It signals the consolidation of New York racing to a rebuilt Belmont Park on Long Island, a move that required returning Aqueduct’s more than 100 acres to the state for redevelopment. The facility will remain open for betting on televised races through September, but Sunday’s final race, appropriately titled “It Was a Good Run,” is scheduled to post at 5:44 p.m., ending what many in the racing world call the closing of an era.
Aqueduct, affectionately known as “the Big A” to generations of racing fans, opened September 27, 1894, on property once occupied by the old Brooklyn Water Works. The track took its name from the aqueduct that ran through the property, bringing fresh water from Long Island to New York City. For nearly a century after its opening, it remained a relatively modest operation until a dramatic transformation in 1959 when more than $30 million in renovations created a state-of-the-art facility. The rebuilt track featured eighteen escalators, elevators, air-conditioned restaurants and lounges, and a 35,000-seat grandstand that the Associated Press declared “the world’s most modern and luxurious horse plant.”
The track became a proving ground for champions. Secretariat won the first race of his legendary career at Aqueduct in 1972 and was retired there in a ceremonial walk before 30,000 fans in 1973. Seattle Slew secured a crucial victory at the track in 1977 before sweeping the Triple Crown later that year. Cigar launched his historic 16-race winning streak at Aqueduct in 1994. Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez started his decorated career at the track, eventually accumulating more than 6,700 victories. Trainer Todd Pletcher won over 220 stakes races there, including multiple editions of the Wood Memorial and the Cigar Mile.
Yet beneath these glory days lurked the reality facing horse racing across America. The sport that was once central to American entertainment and gambling has experienced a prolonged decline. There are roughly 75 thoroughbred tracks nationwide today, compared to more than 300 facilities during the sport’s peak in the late 1800s. Wagering on pari-mutuel racing has dropped roughly 55 percent since 2000 when adjusted for inflation. Slot parlors, casinos, state lotteries, and legalized online and sports betting have steadily eroded the allure of what was once called the “sport of kings.”
The decision to close Aqueduct was directly tied to funding. State funding for the roughly $550 million renovation of Belmont Park was made contingent on the New York Racing Association returning Aqueduct’s 100-plus acres to the state for future redevelopment and consolidating thoroughbred races at Belmont and Saratoga Race Course upstate. This became an unavoidable choice: secure money to rebuild one world-class facility or attempt to maintain operations at an aging one.
“We couldn’t have gotten the money to rebuild Belmont and continue to race at Aqueduct. You have to make these choices,” said Andy Serling, the track’s longtime television analyst and race handicapper, who has watched this evolution firsthand.
The final weekend of racing at Aqueduct is being treated as a momentous occasion. Tickets are being sold for the farewell days at $5 each, with proceeds going to the NYRA Foundation to support thoroughbred aftercare organizations. The first 1,000 guests through the doors on Sunday will receive containers of authentic track-used dirt from Aqueduct’s main track. Each race on Saturday and Sunday will be named in honor of a legendary horse, individual, or significant moment in the track’s history.
For those whose lives have been intertwined with Aqueduct, the closing brings bittersweet reflection. Veteran horse trainer David Donk, while acknowledging the facility’s storied past, noted simply: “Times change. Everything changes in life.” Yet many who worked or wagered there expressed deep nostalgia about what they would miss. The track became a working-class gathering place, where knowledgeable handicappers braved winter weather and built communities around their passion for racing.
With Aqueduct closing, attention now turns to the future of the 100-acre Queens property in South Ozone Park. New York State is conducting an extensive community engagement process to determine how the land should be used. Proposals on the table include housing, retail, community facilities, and open space. The state has already announced a $455 million investment in capital funds to help with redevelopment, with a community master plan expected to be completed in early 2027.
Belmont Park, meanwhile, is undergoing its own transformation. The new facility will feature a smaller, modern grandstand with expanded hospitality areas and more green space. Racing is scheduled to resume there on September 18, 2026, providing continuity for New York’s racing industry even as Aqueduct closes.
The closure of Aqueduct is part of a broader trend reshaping American horse racing. Since 2000, more than 40 racetracks have closed across the United States. Arlington Park in Illinois and Golden Gate Fields in California have both shuttered in recent years. Most remaining tracks now depend on casino revenue to remain financially viable.
For enthusiasts of the sport, the closure represents a real loss. The Big A helped launch countless careers in racing and provided generations of New Yorkers with an accessible connection to a sport that defined American leisure for decades. As the final races play out this weekend, Aqueduct will pass into history—a magnificent relic of an earlier era when the thundering hooves of thoroughbreds were central to American entertainment and the city’s identity.
