Emerald Downs announced Wednesday that the track has moved first post time for live racing from 6 p.m. to 5 p.m. for Thursday and Friday’s cards due to lighting failure.

Last Friday, July 29,  light towers covering approximately 25 percent of the one-mile oval from the half-mile pole to the quarter-pole failed prior to the evening’s seventh race, at approximately 9 p.m. After an approximate 10-minute delay, the seventh race was run without incident. However, after further efforts to restart the lights failed, stewards and track management decided to cancel the eighth race as a precautionary measure.

The issue was addressed early this week, but testing on Wednesday revealed lingering problems that will not be fixed in time for night racing. The track’s Director of Marketing Adrian Buchan said Wednesday  the earlier post time would help avoid any further cancellations.

“Rather than shorten the card, we elected to move our post time to accommodate the entire eight-race program while there is enough natural light to run,” Buchan said