Schoolkids in the Dark, Horses in Light

Forget about rolling blackouts, power companies on the verge of bankruptcy or the daily scramble to buy enough electricity to keep the lights on.

On Friday, the state’s energy crisis posed 58-year-old Bob Folt with a new dilemma: Should he bet the quarter horses at Los Alamitos, or stick with the thoroughbreds at Santa Anita?

“Day, night? Is there much of a difference?” Folt said as he studied the racing form at Los Alamitos Race Course, where on Friday, the usual night lineup was switched to days for the first time ever to save electricity.

For Folt, a limousine driver from Orange, the unexpected daytime running of quarter horses at Los Alamitos left him figuring out how to split the $60 he had to wager.

For the owners of Los Alamitos, the stakes were far higher.

Under its contract with Southern California Edison, it would have cost $100,000, including surcharges, to turn on the lights for one night during the latest statewide emergency.

“That would put us out of business,” chief executive officer Edward C. Allred said in a statement.

On Thursday, the track got approval from the California Horse Racing Board to switch its hours through the weekend. With no time to get the word out, bettors who normally spend the daylight hours wagering via satellite on races across the nation suddenly had live horses to watch too.

What they saw in the first race was all too real. A five-horse spill caused one horse to be euthanized with two broken legs and a jockey to be hospitalized.

It took about an hour for paramedics to assist the five riders who hit the ground.

When racing resumed, fan David Jones of Long Beach said the choice between live and televised racing was obvious.

“If you want action, this is where you need to be,” said Jones as he scanned some of the 60 monitors in a large room with concrete walls and exposed piping that had little ambience--but plenty of action. “You need to keep your eyes on where your money is.”

Why wait half an hour for the next live race when the next televised race is always minutes away?

Well, to be outside in the sun was one reason, and it was an experience that Doug Milne was thankful for, even if it was caused by the state’s deepening energy woes.

“I think you get a better class of people here during the day,” said Milne, 48, of Huntington Beach. “At night the people are, uh, shady. Let’s just say I wouldn’t bring my wife here at night. It’s a rougher crowd.”

Day or night--it doesn’t matter to Roy O’Neal and Patricia L. Furbee. Whenever they have a few bucks in their pockets, they head to Los Alamitos.

“When the rent’s paid and the bills are paid, we come out,” said O’Neal. “They say it’s a disease, but I don’t think. . . .”

He stopped and stood up to watch as the field came charging out of a turn. “Here they come, baby. . . .”

The two met 20 years ago--at a race track. They’ve survived a lot since then--homelessness, illness, the time O’Neal persuaded Furbee to change her picks just before a race, a decision she says cost her a $500,000 purse.

“Lord have mercy,” O’Neal said. “I’ve heard that story for 19 years.”

He recently spent two weeks in jail for having some outstanding traffic warrants. When he got out, O’Neal discovered that Furbee had been evicted from the hotel they were living in. She was sleeping outdoors, searching for a place to stay that had heat and electricity.

It took him three days to find Furbee.

“I was going completely berserk,” O’Neal said. “When I found her, I brought her to the track.”