A trio of stakes for 3-year-old males and a pair of races for 3-year-old fillies that offer qualifying points to the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, respectively, highlight the 2026 Aqueduct winter stakes program announced Wednesday by the New York Racing Association. 

There are 45 scheduled cards during the winter meet that runs Jan. 1- March 29. Racing will be conducted mostly four days a week (Thursdays through Sundays) until Feb. 20, when racing will be held three days a week (Fridays through Sundays) through March 29. 

Parx Racing will cancel its third straight day of racing on Wednesday due to inclement weather. The track has been deemed unfit for racing due to a sharp drop in temperature in the last two days, compounded by the effects of a snowstorm earlier this week.

On Sunday into early Monday, the area around the Bensalem, Pa., track received approximately eight inches of snow. Temperatures during the storm dropped below freezing and have remained low since. Track announcer Jessica Paquette confirmed that the harsh conditions since the storm prevented Parx from reopening this week.

Total handle and average handle per race both declined slightly during Woodbine Racetrack’s recently concluded Thoroughbred meet despite a small uptick in purses, according to an analysis by Daily Racing Form.

Total wagering on Thoroughbred races during the 128-day meet dropped 3.9 percent, while average wagering per race declined 1.6 percent, according to the analysis. Woodbine raced 127 days this year, the same as 2024, but the track lost a number of races to weather cancellations, including five on Sunday, Woodbine’s closing day.

The Virginia Racing Commission has approved 48 days of live racing at Colonial Downs in 2026, the most expansive season in the track’s history. After a special three-day meet in March, Colonial will operate four days per week from Thursday, June 25, to Monday, Sept. 7.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Saturday’s stakes action gets off to a compelling start in race 5, the Janus, with Coppola and Reef Runner facing each other for the third time in the past year. The 11-race card is highlighted by the Grade 3 Harlan's Holiday and Fort Lauderdale Stakes. 

With Turfway Park forced to cancel Saturday night's program due to a brutal winter forecast, the track's Synthetic Championships, with a combined $1 million in stakes, will be moved to Sunday, Dec. 21. 

Turfway announced the cancellation on Saturday morning. The National Weather Service is calling for 3 to 7 inches of snow throughout the day and evening in Florence, Ky., with temperatures expected to fall into the single digits and wind chill values approaching minus-9 degrees overnight.

When Snide upset Friday’s fourth race at 28-1, it was the 165th training victory of 2025 for Linda Rice, establishing a record for most wins by a trainer in one year on the New York Racing Association circuit.

Rice broke the record she already shared with David Jacobson. Rice officially won 164 races in 2023 after having lost an additional victory, recorded by Afleet Arlene in January 2023, when that horse was disqualified first for a medication violation. Jacobson won 164 races in 2013.

The $500,000 Sunland Park Derby will anchor a card of six stakes worth $1.1 million when it is renewed on Feb. 15, according to a press release from Sunland. The New Mexico track opens its 55-date meet Jan. 2 and will race through April 5.

The Sunland Derby, which last year was worth $400,000, will be run over 1 1/16 miles. It offers Kentucky Derby points to the first five finishers on a scale of 20-10-6-4-2.

Kentucky Derby points will be on the line next Saturday when the unbeaten multiple stakes winner Arctic Beast meets Grade 3 winner Spice Runner and local stakes winners Essential Time and Royalamerican in the $300,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park.

The 2-year-olds are part of a field of 12 that was drawn on Friday. The Springboard Mile offers its first five finishers points on a scale of 10-5-3-2-1. Coal Battle, who won the race last season, went on to capture the Smarty Jones and Rebel at Oaklawn Park.