Lone Star Park near Dallas is scheduled to open for racing Friday. The track is working closely with the Texas Racing Commission to facilitate the start of live racing, which was postponed from its April 16 start date due to the coronavirus pandemic. The racing will be conducted without fans in the grandstand. The commission and the track are coming together to handle regulatory protocols, including licensing of racing participants. The ontrack office will have limitations on the number of people that can be licensed at one time to keep with social-distancing guidelines, while Lone Star has offered to provide security guards to help with fingerprinting. There also will be temperature checks. “We will try to make this work, try to make everyone in place and ready to go for Friday,” Chuck Trout, executive director of the Texas Racing Commission, said during the agency’s more than three-hour meeting Tuesday. :: To stay up to date, follow us on: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Entries for Friday’s card will be taken Wednesday, according to a Lone Star racing official. The track will use its existing condition book races that were scheduled for "Day 1" of the meet, although it will not run the Bluebonnet Stakes on Friday. First post for Friday is scheduled for 3 p.m. Central. Trout said those with horses entered for the first card of the meet that need to be licensed should take priority. Lone Star was scheduled to race for 44 days through July 19, but the duration of the meet was unclear Tuesday. During the commission meeting, Scott Wells, president of Lone Star, asked the agency for “flexibility.” He said Lone Star would likely know after a few weeks of racing if 44 days was “achievable.” Wells told commissioners Lone Star hopes to have plans for the full meeting in place “very soon.” The commission had asked the state’s tracks to give updates on their 2020 meets Tuesday. Wells read a letter to the commission in which Lone Star expressed the possibility of opening as early as Friday with spectator-free racing. The track felt it was important to resume racing before the end of May or it might risk losing stables in place for the meet. The stable area opened in early May. Texas tracks have been able to boost purses for 2020 due to a new state law that sets aside a portion of existing taxes on equine goods and services for the racing and breeding industry. Sam Houston saw a more than 40 percent increase in handle during its meet, according to track officials. The state’s industry has wanted to see that momentum continue at Lone Star, which is drawing a host of new owners, trainers, and jockeys for the season. Lone Star is launching its meet under the guidelines of the state's program to reopen Texas.