OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) today announced the race dates and stakes schedule for the 2020 spring meet at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The 13-day meet, highlighted by the Wood Memorial on April 4, will commence on Thursday, April 2 and conclude on Sunday, April 19. The spring meet will feature 15 stakes, including six graded contests, worth a collective $3.1 million. Five of those graded stakes will be part of a loaded Wood Memorial Day card on Saturday, April 4, highlighted by the 96th running of the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial for 3-year-olds that offers 100-40-20-10 qualifying points to the Kentucky Derby. The undercard will include the Grade 1, $400,000 Carter Handicap for 4-year-olds and up, the Grade 2, $300,000 Gazelle for 3-year-old fillies, the Grade 3, $250,000 Bay Shore for 3-year-olds and the Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior for 4-year-oldsd and up. The first graded stakes for the meet will come with the Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff, a handicap for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up going seven furlongs, on April 3.
There will be no live racing on Easter Sunday, April 12.
The meet’s final week, which starts on April 15, will offer five stakes, starting with the $100,000 Mizdirection for 3-year-old fillies on turf on Friday, April 17. Two stakes the following day will see sophomores going 1 1/16 miles on turf in the $100,000 Woodhaven and 3-year-old fillies in a 6 ½-furlong sprint in the New York Stallion Stakes Series Park Avenue for 3-year-old filly state-breds. Closing Day, April 19, will see 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles on turf in the $100,000 Memories of Silver and state-bred 3-year-olds competing at 6 ½ furlongs in the $200,000 NYSSS Memories of Silver.
NYRA Press Office
