Horse fatality catches Del Mar off guard

The Thoroughbred Club's first horse fatality of 2009 occurred three days before tomorrow's start of the race meeting when Mad For Plaid was euthanized after breaking a left front sesamoid bone in a Sunday morning workout.

And events that followed the breakdown compounded the tragedy.

Outriders were slow to reach the scene, a horn-and-lights alarm was not activated, and an equine ambulance — an older version of the trailers that were at Hollywood Park on Sunday and will be here for the meeting — was delayed by several minutes.