Its state franchise to operate Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga race tracks expires at the end of 2000.

The N.Y.R.A. operates Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga.

The racing association is bankrupt, and its contract to operate Belmont, as well as the Aqueduct and Saratoga tracks, expires at the end of next year.

The N.Y.R.A. operates Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga, the state's three other throughbred tracks.

Having survived the indictment, NYRA, which has operated Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga since 1955, can turn its attention toward a franchise renewal.

The New York Racing Association, which operates Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga, is also interested.

Governor Pataki signed a law in 1997 that extended to 2007 the association's franchise to operate Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga.

The association now operates Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga, the three major thoroughbred race tracks in New York.

As a result, the New York Racing Association, a nonprofit corporation that operates Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga, has fallen on rough financial times.

A new entity would operate Belmont from fall to spring while the New York Racing Association would operate Saratoga Race Course in the summer.