Los Alamitos cancels nighttime cards for Feb. 5-6

Los Alamitos has canceled its night programs for Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds on Feb. 5-6 to conduct maintenance on the lighting system, according to a statement released over the weekend.

The track did not have a program scheduled for Feb. 7 to avoid a conflict with the Super Bowl. The track will race this weekend, from Friday through Sunday, and resume racing on Friday, Feb. 12. That weekend will include the Los Alamitos Winter Derby on Feb. 13 and the Los Alamitos Winter Championship on Feb. 14.

This is the second consecutive year that Los Alamitos has canceled night programs on the first weekend of February to do maintenance on a lighting system installed in 1968.

The absence of live racing Feb. 5-6 will help the track’s pool of available horses. The number of race-ready horses drops in the early months of the year during the year-round meeting before racing for 2-year-olds begins in April. The track typically struggles to fill races in the early months of the year.

The track ran eight-race programs Saturday and Sunday, one fewer than what is typically offered at other times of the year.