Ever since last fall, there's been a recurring quip heard in all corners of Aqueduct Racetrack.
Basically, it's "the last (fill in the stakes) at Aqueduct."
With Aqueduct slated to close on June 28 and Belmont Park becoming the New York Racing Association's lone downstate track on Sept. 18, every stakes since last fall has indeed been "the last at the Big A."
Some elicit a chuckle. Saying goodbye to the Take the A Train Stakes is unlikely to launch a torrent of tears.
Yet if there is one stakes race that truly identifies with Aqueduct, it would be the Wood Memorial (G2), which will be contested for the 66th and final time April 4 at the Big A.
The Wood, once known as New York's definitive Kentucky Derby prep, has been a stage occupied by some of the sport's greatest 3-year-olds, and the Big A has been its home since 1960, when it inherited it from Jamaica Race Course.
All-time greats such as Damascus, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Easy Goer have either won the mile and an eighth stakes or competed in it.
There has been a wealth of memories attached to it, especially for trainers Todd Pletcher and Rudy Rodriguez, both of whom have a starter in Saturday's sendoff in Ozone Park.
Pletcher can relate numerous stories about the Wood as he has captured it seven times in the last 15 runnings and can tie Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons with a record eighth victory if Courting prevails on Saturday.
"I have a lot of memories and it's bittersweet. I hope the new Belmont is what the New York City area needs and can give us a boost to our on-track attendance and people wanting to be involved in racing," the Hall of Famer said. "They want a first-class facility but at the same time it's sad to see the closing of Aqueduct. Especially when you think of all the great horses who have raced there in so many big races."
Pletcher says he will not miss driving to and from the Big A on the Belt Parkway, but he does have a fond spot for his first Wood winner, Eskendereya in 2010. He was also part of the stakes' longest-priced winner in 2021 when Bourbonic at 72-1 rallied from last to win by a head and beat 15-1 Dynamic One in a 1-2 finish for his 3-year-olds.
"That had some good and bad," he said with a chuckle. "It was a pleasant surprise."
He was also on the other end of one of the most stunning defeats in Wood history when Repole Stable's Uncle Mo finished third at 1-10 in the 2011 race.
"That might be the greatest upset in the Wood," Pletcher said. "Right after that, he got sick and missed the Kentucky Derby, so it was a precursor of what was to come."
Back then, the Wood was a grade 1 stakes, and Pletcher still feels the sting of the race's downgrading to grade 2 status in 2017.
"There's so much competition with the Blue Grass (G1) and Arkansas Derby (G1) and Florida Derby (G1) and Louisiana Derby (G2). There are so many options now," Pletcher said. "I think people started finding it more attractive to run in Florida and then stay there a few weeks with the warmer weather before they make one move to Kentucky. Subtle things here and there took horses away from it and it became a grade 2. But to me, most people still think of it as a grade 1 race."
When the Wood shifts to Belmont Park in 2027, it will be contested at the same nine-furlong distance but at one turn instead of two. Pletcher says he will miss the two-turn setup.
"What I like is the two-turn aspect. That could alter things at Belmont. One-turn, mile and an eighth races are a different kind of race, the way fields spread out," he said.
Since he started working in New York 25 years ago as an assistant for D. Wayne Lukas, Pletcher has seen a multitude of races at the facility. He has also seen the Big A age and decay in its last years, something that, for some observers, has taken a slice of the emotion out of its final meets.
"With the dynamics of the new place, you can understand not wanting to invest a lot of money into capital improvements at Aqueduct," he said. "It's in need of a serious facelift, but the new facility at Belmont is going to be way, way better."
For Rodriguez, Aqueduct has a deeper meaning. It's home.
"It's really sad because I grew up at Aqueduct," Rodriguez said. "I got there in 1988. I worked my first horse there. I rode my first race as a jockey there and won my first race there. When I started training, I was stabled there. I won my first grade 1 there. It's tough to see it go. I have so many great memories there."
Rodriguez, who will send out Talk to Me Jimmy on Saturday, has never won the Wood and says it will be a huge thrill just to be a part of the final Wood at the Big A.
Should he win it, he'll have a memory that will never leave him. Just like so many other moments, he has treasured at Aqueduct.
"Just being there Saturday will be incredible," he said. "But if I can win it, that would be at the top of every minute I have spent there."
