QUEENS used to be the borough for horse racing, with traces of the sport evident on the map with Trotting Course Lane, National Street, artworks on the Q53 bus stops on Woodhaven Boulevard, and the horse heads at Rochdale Playground. On June 28, 2026, the last horse racing track in New York City, Aqueduct in Ozone Park had its final race with the New York Racing Association consolidating its downstate activities at the renovated Belmont Park.
Having missed the Knicks championship and seeing the World Cup at a public watch party, I certainly wouldn’t miss the final event at Aqueduct Racetrack knowing that it will never happen again. On the final day the crowd included old-timers with racing forms and young curiosity seekers wearing Knicks hats from the previous week’s excitement. Looking at the bulletin, I gained respect for the gamblers here. I was never good at math. So many numbers and charts, it looked like an accounting ledger accompanied by punny names for the horses.
As with most of my essays, I looked for the public artworks of Aqueduct Racetrack, which are likely to disappear, or perhaps face the auctioneer’s gavel. I’m not sure how the mural facing the parking lot will be preserved, as its fate is tied to the building. Completed in 1957, it was regarded as modern at that time but today it has the look of an aging Catskills hotel. This mural depicts Secretariat, painted by LA-based artist David Flores. The reddish thoroughbred had his racing debut at Aqueduct in 1972, winning the Belmont Stakes in the following year.
Closer to the entrance, a memorial plaque by the Robert F. Mangel American Legion Post No. 1781 honors departed comrades, but it offers no information in which wars they served, or when they died. This veterans organization was composed primarily of Aqueduct employees. As the number of veterans dwindles, there are fewer active American Legion and VFW posts. If you know more about this one, the comments section is open.
The grandstand offers options for viewing the race, standing close to the track, up in the seats with outdoor and indoor rows. I heard the buglers up close and felt the ground trembling as the horses raced by.
Inside the grandstand, posters with jockey uniform designs honored the winners of past races here such as the Remsen Stakes, Cigar Mile, Wood Memorial, and Carter Handicap. Keep in mind that unlike most professional sports in which height is an advantage, a short jockey is ideal for horse racing. Remsen’s namesake has local roots: he was a Revolutionary War veteran buried in Rego Park on Trotting Course Lane. The Wood Memorial Stakes honor the founder of Jamaica Racetrack, whose operations were absorbed by Aqueduct in 1960.
This Ian Kuali’i mural covers a cinderblock wall on the second level, its fate tied to the building. Descended from the Apache nation of New Mexico and Hawaiian royalty, his art career began with an interest in hip-hop and the experiences of Native Americans. Instead of rapping, deejaying or breakdancing, he expressed this genre in graffiti and stencil-inspired murals. Kuali’i was among the street artists selected in 2013 to beautify the interior. In total, 13 artists were commissioned for this art project.
I could not identify the artist of this painting based on the signature, and considering its fate, perhaps it can hang in the apartments that will stand on the site of this grandstand. It is not unusual to see developments with names, artworks, and designs that honor the history of their locations for a sense of continuity and meaning.
Aqueduct Racetrack will remain open through September, allowing the public to place bets and watch races elsewhere on screens. Then the state will begin the outreach process, engaging with local elected officials, civic groups, and the public, to redevelop the largest state-owned parcel in Queens.
Looking at the circuit from the highest seats, I can imagine it transformed into a street with the space inside designated as a park. The only such precedents are Epsom Course in Holliswood, a private racecourse that became a street; and Heritage Field in the Bronx, on the site of the old Yankee Stadium. Statues of the jockeys at the racetrack entrance could then be moved to this park.
In 2013, the struggling racetrack received an income boost with the opening of Resorts World, the first legal casino within the five boroughs. In 2025, the casino created a model with its vision for the 72-acre site. It includes a park on the footprint of the racetrack.
As Queens was mapped with a numbered grid in 1911, Linden Boulevard was supposed to run uninterrupted from Brooklyn to Nassau Country. A set of houses in Ozone Park stood in the way, along with the Aqueduct. The most recent map showing Linden in full form was the 1956 map of Brooklyn and Queens by the Shell Oil Company. I don’t expect the future neighborhood here to connect the loose segments of this boulevard.
An older map from 1918 did not expect the racetrack to operate into the 21st century. It shows the street grid pre-numerization laid atop the racetrack, with colorful names long forgotten. Further back in time to 1901, the racetrack’s namesake is clearly seen: the Brooklyn Water Works aqueduct bordering this property. It carried water from Nassau County to Brooklyn on the route that became North and South Conduit Avenues.
There are two subway stations serving this former racetrack: Aqueduct-North Conduit Avenue, and Aqueduct Racetrack. The latter is closer to the casino and grandstand, unique for having a platform only in one direction, and being among the least used in the system as most of its customers relate to either the casino or the racetrack. I expect it to remain in service for the future neighborhood that will be built here. This station opened in 1959 on the occasion of the new grandstand. The tracks here have a longer history, having been built for the Long Island Railroad before being linked to the subway system in 1956.
For another example of a nostalgic goodbye to a Queens sports venue, see Kevin’s 2008 requiem for Shea Stadium.
Sergey Kadinsky is the author of Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs (2016, Countryman Press), adjunct history professor at Touro University and the webmaster of Hidden Waters Blog.
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7/4/26
5 comments
Excellent article. Photos were superb and the many links were also informative. Keep up the good work and am looking forward to your next submission.
Aqueduct race track became park
Went there with my parents when we were kids in the 1960s
Boy,you sure would see some characters at the horse track
From 1976-1980 I I rode the original Nostalgia Special using R1/9,s ABs or D Types. On the return trip back to Manhattan, one time we approached and slowly passed the Aqueduct Race Track station loaded with race track bettors who thought we’d make a station stop. Nope, we just slowly passed the crowd and headed our way back home. Must have irked them !
Jamaica Racetrack was the setting of what is surely one of the greatest pieces of sportswriting ever:
https://www.bloodhorse.com/pdf/DeathofaRacehorse_Heinz.pdf