Los Alamitos will take one-week break to upgrade lighting

The Los Alamitos evening meeting for Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds will take a one-week break in early February to allow for maintenance on the track’s lighting system, officials announced on Friday.

There will be no nighttime racing on the weekend of Feb. 6-8. Racing will resume on Friday, Feb. 13. There are no stakes or time trials for major Quarter Horse stakes scheduled during Feb. 6-8.

The upgrade will be conducted on a lightning system installed in 1968, officials said. During a week of maintenance, the track will remain open for simulcasting of daytime and evening signals on all days except the evening of Feb. 6, and will remain open for morning training for all Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses.

The absence of live racing will give the horse population a week off, which could increase field sizes later in February. Through last Sunday, the most recent day of live racing, Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbred races were averaging 6.13 runners per race since the start of the year-long meeting on Dec. 26. Through the same period in early 2014, fields averaged 6.01 runners per race.