said Mass<\/a> on the track\u2019s infield before 75,000 people. Today, a turnout of 2,000 is a good day, but those regulars are proud disciples.<\/p>\n\u201cI know they\u2019re saying Belmont\u2019s going to be a state-of-the-art track, but it\u2019s still sad to see Aqueduct go,\u201d Mr. Lettieri said between studying the next race\u2019s lineup and listening to sports news blaring from his transistor radio. \u201cIt\u2019s a place for regular people to escape to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aqueduct is one of the oldest thoroughbred tracks in the country and the last remaining one in a city that in the early 1900s had six of them.<\/p>\n
The New York Racing Association has long run thoroughbred racing in New York as a traveling roadshow rotating among three tracks: Aqueduct in colder months, Saratoga in late summer and Belmont Park most of the remaining months.<\/p>\n
Belmont, the home of the prestigious Belmont Stakes, is considered Aqueduct\u2019s upscale cousin, a more family-oriented place that draws from suburban Long Island.<\/p>\n
Saratoga retains a high-society luster, especially on big race days, when one can spot women in fancy hats and men in seersucker under the track\u2019s grand old wooden grandstand.<\/p>\n
Modern-day Aqueduct was never known for that kind of finery, nor did it have picnic areas, like at Saratoga and Belmont.<\/p>\n
What Aqueduct did have was its own subway stop on the A line. It was also free to enter, a big draw for the hardened horseplayers from south Brooklyn and Queens.<\/p>\n
They would gather inside the cavernous clubhouse, a fluorescent-lit sanctuary for gamblers who couldn\u2019t care less that the place had all the charm of a bus station, and where there was no shame in scavenging a used racing form from the trash. Fearless pigeons paced indoors, pecking at the losing betting slips that grew thicker on the floor as the afternoon wore on.<\/p>\n
Bettors, who appeared to be mostly middle-aged men, scrutinized odds and time sheets and notated their racing forms according to their own handicapping systems. Then they would cluster around wall-mounted screens simulcasting racing from other tracks and indulge in what seemed like primal scream therapy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they\u2019re screaming at the screens, that\u2019s them enjoying themselves,\u201d said Suzie Smith, a veteran teller who has taken cash bets from Aqueduct horseplayers for 20 years.<\/p>\n
Track employees rotate along with the seasonal race schedule; all her work will now shift to the tracks at Belmont and Saratoga. Ms. Smith admitted she has developed a soft spot for her Aqueduct clients, whom she described as hardened horseplayers who combine betting acumen with a dash of superstition and often insist on betting in cash.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of them, once they win with you, they keep coming back,\u201d she said. \u201cI have regulars who will only bet with me. They call me their lucky teller.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roy Brown, a Jamaican immigrant from Queens, one of a large contingent of Aqueduct regulars who hail from Caribbean neighborhoods, was hunkered down at his regular spot in the track\u2019s main concourse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether I win or lose, I love being around here and it\u2019s going to be hard to say goodbye,\u201d Mr. Brown said.<\/p>\n
Many like Mr. Brown regard the new Belmont with mix of excitement and wariness.<\/p>\n
Belmont is served by the Long Island Rail Road but not the subway. Admission is yet to be determined, but already the new track is touting premium pricing options, membership concierge service and box seating. Suffice it to say, it won\u2019t be free. \u201cA lot of my friends take the A train here,\u201d Mr. Brown said. \u201cA lot of guys don\u2019t drive and will have a hard time getting to Belmont \u2014 some say they\u2019ll give up the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite its decline, the racing industry is fond of the Big A, as the regulars call it, as the people\u2019s racetrack. It is a place where a top jockey like Kendrick Carmouche has run into the crowd to celebrate with the locals, as he did last year after winning his 4,000th race.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love Saratoga and Belmont, but Aqueduct is just a different atmosphere,\u201d said Linda Rice, who is widely known for her dominance as a trainer at Aqueduct. \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of great moments here. It holds a special place in my heart and I\u2019m going to be sad to see it go.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of its closing celebration this weekend, the track will offer the first 1,000 fans through the door on Sunday a souvenir that seems to fit its devotees\u2019 granular love for the place: a small Mason jar of dirt from the main track.<\/p>\n
As for Mr. Lettieri, he is hoping to buy one of the grandstand seats from his regular section.<\/p>\n
He watched rapt as the horses roared down Aqueduct\u2019s homestretch.<\/p>\n
A chorus of shouts rose from the sparse crowd of railbirds standing trackside. Above it all, one of the Jamaican men began beating a rolled-up racing form into his palm and chanting \u201cEasy money!\u201d as Sports Hero beat out Asked and Answered to win.<\/p>\n
A few happy horseplayers rejoiced and headed inside to redeem their winnings. Others tossed their losing stubs on Aqueduct\u2019s cracked asphalt.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou develop a strong stomach for losing, but you also get moments of euphoria as a horseplayer,\u201d Mr. Lettieri said. \u201cWin or lose, it\u2019s a special place.\u201d<\/p>\n
He took a puff of his cigar and said he would miss the \u201cambience\u201d at the Big A.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can be yourself here,\u201d he said. \u201dYou\u2019re in an environment where all your problems go away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Surrounded by a sea of empty, peeling plastic seats, Frank Lettieri had his Daily Racing Form and nearly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[30533,8310,107570,107568,28059,107567,107571,107572,9,24,55,54,107569,56,6963,96510],"class_list":["post-280190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-aqueduct-racetrack","tag-belmont-park","tag-carmouche","tag-drivers-and-trainers","tag-horse-racing","tag-jockeys","tag-kendrick","tag-linda-louise-1964","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-new-york-racing-assn","tag-ny","tag-rice","tag-saratoga-race-course"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}