In 2009, we wrote: “The season ends today at Aqueduct, and with the finish of the ninth race should come the closure of the Queens horse track.” It’s taken 17 years, but the ninth race at Aqueduct yesterday had a post time of 5:44 p.m. and was won by Assume Nothing running the mile and an eighth in 1:51.21. It wasn’t just the final race of the day or the season; it was the last race ever, after 132 years.

Aqueduct has now closed. The horses will henceforth have their winter meets at Belmont and the huge plot of public land in South Ozone Park will have a new use and the top priority must be housing, housing, housing.

Once, decades ago, before the New York Lottery and before Off-Track Betting, Aqueduct could bring in more than 70,000 folks. That’s when the numbers racket and illegal policy games used the last three digits of the Aqueduct attendance as printed in the........

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