A state board charged with oversight of the New York Racing Association’s budget and operations has approved the company’s plan to renovate its Oklahoma training track at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York. The Franchise Oversight Board gave its approval to the project during a telephonic meeting on Monday afternoon when sanctioning NYRA’s budget and capital-improvement plans for 2021. The FOB, as it is called, was created in 2008 to supervise aspects of NYRA’s operations after the association emerged from bankruptcy and received a 25-year lease from the state to operate New York’s three largest racetracks. The project to renovate the Oklahoma training track will be completed by the time the training track opens in April, according to NYRA officials. The budget for the renovation is $1 million, including the installation of a new safety rail at the track. NYRA will remove the cushion on top of the track and lay down a limestone base in order to improve drainage, replacing a sand base. The Oklahoma dirt track will also be leveled to create “the correct pitch and elevations,” according to Glen Kozak, NYRA’s senior vice president of operations and capital projects, and the two straightaways will be potentially widened 10 to 12 feet, provided NYRA can get local approvals for the expansion. NYRA completed a similar project on the Saratoga main track prior to last year’s meet. NYRA officials began discussions with horsemen over a renovation of the Oklahoma track after the meet wrapped up in early September, and Kozak said horsemen were “unanimous” in supporting the association’s plan. The Oklahoma training track was closed in November. “Today’s approval by the Franchise Oversight Board will allow NYRA to move forward with a significant and important renovation of the Oklahoma training track,” said Patrick McKenna, a spokesman for NYRA, following the vote. “This project follows the work completed on the main track last spring resulting in a more consistent track surface that recovers quickly from the severe weather events that are increasing in both frequency and severity with each passing year.” The FOB also approved plans for potential renovations at Saratoga’s Post Bar, a popular outdoor spot adjacent to the paddock. Under those plans, which do not have a timetable for completion, NYRA could replace the tent that covers the bar with a permanent roof and install a small air-conditioned suite on the roof for “group sales events,” NYRA officials said during the conference call. NYRA officials also said that they are considering plans to create ticketed tailgating slots for cars outside the first turn at Saratoga. That project was also given approval. Financially, NYRA is forecasting net income of $5.5 million in 2021, a $1.1 million net increase over its net income in 2019, chiefly due to continued growth in its account-wagering operations and reduced expenses in 2021, according to chief financial officer Renee Postel. She said that the association preferred to use 2019 numbers for comparison to the 2021 budget due to the massive number of changes to the association’s operations in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Under state requirements, no spectators have been allowed at NYRA’s tracks since the re-opening of Belmont in June of last year. Dave O’Rourke, NYRA’s chief executive, told the FOB members that the association does not anticipate that situation to change until spring at the earliest, when racing has moved from Aqueduct to Belmont. However, both O’Rourke and Postel cautioned that the forecasts could be altered depending on factors outside their control.