Formerly the Aqueduct Handicap, the race was renamed in honor of the recently retired New York-bred gelding who won the mile and a sixteenth race in 2002 at age four.
Sunday’s feature is the 34th running of the Affectionately Handicap for fillies and mares, also going a mile and one sixteenth. C.P. Racing Stables’ Are We Dreamin, fourth to Zada Belle in the Interborough on New Year’s Day; Kasey K Racing Stable’s Rap Tale, fourth in the Ladies Handicap on December 14; Edward Evans’ Spritely, second as the favorite in the Restored Hope on January 2 after stumbling at the break, and Seahorse Stable’s Yet Again, third in that race, are listed as probable. IEAH Stables Successful Sarah and Paul Fowler’s Hongkong Tour are questionable.
On Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, three-year-old sprinters will vie in the 25th running of the $65,000-added Jimmy Winkfield Stakes. Michael Dubb’s Fellow Crasher, no worse than third in six starts last year; Sherry Parbhoo’s Giant Ryan, a New York-bred son of Freud who is on a two-race win streak, and Shadwell Stable’s Taqarub, undefeated in two starts, are likely for the six-furlong race, with Four Roses Thoroughbreds’ Great Debater and Starlight Partners’ Naos listed as questionable.
Although Aqueduct will offer no live racing on Monday, January 12 and Tuesday, January 13, the track will be open for simulcasting on the second floor, clubhouse. There is no parking or admission charge, and gates open at 11:30 a.m.
