As racing begins to open up on major circuits in Kentucky and California, New York racing is still stuck in limbo, two months and counting without live racing and with no clear-cut answer on when operations can resume. The New York Racing Association is awaiting an answer from state officials on a plan it submitted last month to run racing at Belmont Park without spectators. Under the original plan, the hope was to begin racing next Friday. Now, it would appear a best-case scenario would be the last weekend of May or perhaps early June. In reality, nobody knows. New York has been the hardest hit state by the coronavirus, with 345,813 confirmed cases and 22,304 deaths reported through Thursday. Nassau County, where Belmont Park is located, has had 38,864 cases and 2,027 deaths. If Nassau County were a state, it would rank 10th in cases and deaths. The state, led by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has laid out seven metrics for regions to meet in order to begin opening its economy in phases. Long Island, made up of Nassau and Suffolk counties, has met five of the seven metrics. One metric includes a 14-day decline in COVID-related hospital deaths or fewer than five deaths. According to state statistics, Long Island as of Friday has had two consecutive days of a decline in deaths. Nassau County on Thursday had 11 fatalities. :: To stay up to date, follow us on: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Phase I businesses slated to reopen once a region hits all seven metrics include construction, manufacturing, curbside retail, and agriculture. NYRA is hoping it would be considered agriculture as it deals with the care of animals. Training has been conducted six days a week at Belmont since racing shut down March 19. “Our reopening of Belmont specifically hinges on the broader reopening of Nassau County and how they bucket different industries into different phases,” NYRA president and CEO Dave O’Rourke said in a phone interview Friday. “We’re working with the Gaming Commission, Nassau County, and the state to communicate that we’re confident we can race without fans, that it’s just incremental to what we’re doing on a [daily] basis, but we haven’t gotten clearance yet, but we’re still in active dialogue daily.” NYRA has not raced since March 15 at Aqueduct. Sunday will mark 34 cards of racing canceled, 19 at Aqueduct and 15 at Belmont. O’Rourke said he knows “it’s frustrating for our folks” as they watch racing restart in Kentucky and California while they can only train, unable to make money to deal with expenses. “Some of these other jurisdictions are coming on line, but none of them are in the same position New York was in in terms of scale,” O’Rourke said. “Nassau County is one of the hardest hit counties in the country. While you’re trying to convey patience, this needs to be done safely. We’ve been working with the horsemen – they’ve been amazing in terms of their dedication to operating in this format – but the pressure builds. These are small businesses, it’s a tough business, and without having clarity on our live dates obviously people will look for where and when can they run. “We’ll race again. We’ll get clarity on the time line,” O’Rourke added. “Every day feels like a week right now. We’re doing everything possible. From the state’s side, they’re trying to open up an economy of 19 million people after being hit with something nobody has ever seen before – the closest thing equivalent to a war really. While we made what we’re asking for clear, we have to be patient and we have to respect the process.” O’Rourke said in opening up racing, NYRA would only look to add about 60 personnel to the number of backstretch people who are already involved in the day-to-day training of the horses. “We’d advocate we could operate in a minimal increased risk environment given that we got 800 to 1,000 people training,” O’Rourke said. “We would only need 60 more.” O’Rourke said Belmont would seek to race four days a week. The meet is scheduled to end July 12, with racing then moved to Saratoga starting July 16. While many stakes would have to furloughed for a year, O’Rourke is hopeful of being able to conduct the Belmont Stakes during the summer meet. He acknowledges it would likely be run at a distance shorter than the usual 1 1/2 miles, given the lack of racing opportunities and preparation time leading up to the race. O’Rourke said he doesn’t see the Belmont being a good fit at the fall meet, just a month or so out from the Breeders’ Cup Classic scheduled for Nov. 7 at Keeneland. O’Rourke said his preference is to run the Saratoga meet as scheduled, without spectators if necessary, in large part because he and his staff believe wagering handle would be significantly higher at Saratoga than Belmont. With Resorts World, the casino at Aqueduct closed since mid-March, the only revenue generating stream for purse money would be handle. Casino revenue is responsible for one-third of purse revenue. “By going to Saratoga, it would allow us to keep the purses at a higher level,” O’Rourke said. “Purses would have to be reduced across both, but they’d be significantly higher at Saratoga because of handle generation. Given the choice, we’d much prefer to run at Saratoga, but we’re prepared to adapt to whatever cards are on the table.” O’Rourke said his immediate focus is getting Belmont open and then NYRA will submit a plan, perhaps as early as next week, to get approval to open Saratoga for training. A plan to operate Saratoga’s race meet will be submitted later. “If we’re training at Saratoga similar to how we’re training at Belmont now the delta to live racing is similar to what we’re asking for now, which is not a terribly high head count,” O’Rourke said. “By the time we’d be up there we’d have refined everything that we’re doing, which we think is best in class now. It would be at another level once we’re there.”