NEW YORK (AP) -The New York Racing Association is running out of money and may have to shut down in less than three weeks, the day after the Belmont Stakes.

One leading horseman described the situation as ``catastrophic'' and said that even Saratoga - the jewel of New York racing - could be threatened by the turmoil.

NYRA president and CEO Charlie Hayward said Monday that cash problems must be resolved with the state ``to make it through the entire Belmont Park race meet.''

He did not give a timetable for a possible closing, but several horsemen said racing could be halted June 6 - a day after the Belmont is run without any star power since Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver and Preakness winner Lookin At Lucky are bypassing the final leg of the Triple Crown.

The Belmont meet ends July 18 before racing shifts upstate to Saratoga for the state's most lucrative meet, which runs July 23-Sept. 6.

``NYRA's current cash position will not allow us to make it through the entire Belmont Park race meet,'' Hayward said in a statement. ``We are in discussions with the state regarding potential avenues for us to acquire funding.''

NYRA had hoped video lottery terminals would be in place at Aqueduct to generate needed revenue, but the state's failure to name a gaming operator has been delayed several times and the bidding process was recently reopened. Hayward said the state was supposed to subsidize NYRA if the VLTs were not installed by April 2009 - legislation for VLTS was first approved in 2001.

NYRA also is owed $17 million by the bankrupt New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation, and no timetable has been set for payment.

``You can't pay what you don't have,'' NYCOTB chairman Meyer ``Sandy'' Frucher said. ``NYRA's fate and our fate seem to be appropriately entwined. We need people to come together for a comprehensive solution ... I am hopeful this will all come together before there is a disruption of racing in New York state.''

New York Gov. David Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook said: ``We're continuing to have discussions with NYRA on how to address this problem.''

To make matters worse, a Belmont Stakes without a horse going for the Triple Crown likely costs NYRA about $3 million in additional revenue.

``Without a Triple Crown it's a completely different race,'' Hayward said. ``But in terms of solving the long-term financial problems of NYRA, that wouldn't come close.''

NYRA is a not-for-profit corporation that was granted the franchise to run racing at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga through 2033.

While NYRA has continued to function through years of financial turmoil - it has operated the tracks since the 1950s - trainer Rick Violette said the shutdown threat is real.

``There is no posturing. No attempt to overstate the situation. What is being reported is eerily right on the money,'' he said. ``If the doors don't open (at the tracks), it will have a ripple effect in the state and across the country. It'll be really catastrophic.''

Violette, also the president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and a member of the NYRA Board of Directors, even outlined a plan being considered:

- NYRA would close racing for two weeks beginning June 6. The move would mean layoffs for an undetermined number of NYRA's 1,100 employees.

- If a resolution is not reached after two weeks, NYRA will close all three tracks, meaning about 3,000 horses and about 2,000 backstretch workers would be asked to leave the grounds.

``And if it gets to that, where horsemen have to go elsewhere, then Saratoga is in serious jeopardy,'' Violette said.

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Associated Press Writer Michael Gormley in Albany, N.Y., contributed to this report.