3-Year-Old Gelding Fire Flight Euthanized After Throwing Jockey at Los Alamitos

State horse racing officials confirmed that Fire Flight suffered a catastrophic injury and was euthanized after the 3-year-old gelding threw his jockey in the seventh race at Los Alamitos Race Course during the track’s February racing program on Feb. 18, 2026. The official race chart reports that Fire Flight “came out start, ducked/lost rider” and was “equine ambulanced,” and track records list the colt as running his first race when the incident occurred.

Los Alamitos race-day logs show the equine ambulance was used to remove Fire Flight from the race surface; the chart language describes the sequence but does not identify the jockey, trainer, or owner. State officials confirmed the euthanasia, but the track has not released the name of the rider who was thrown or provided details about veterinary treatment at the scene.

Fire Flight is the second horse to die from a racing or training injury at Los Alamitos this year, following the Jan. 24 fall of 3-year-old filly Imm Relentless, who also unseated her jockey. The California Horse Racing Board recorded 19 racing and training deaths at Los Alamitos in 2025, a figure that has become a focal point for owners, trainers and bettors who follow the Southern California circuit closely.

The incident at Los Alamitos comes amid a string of high-profile equine fatalities this season at major tracks. At Saratoga, Maple Leaf Mel, a 3-year-old filly trained by Melanie Giddings and owned by August Dawn Farm, suffered a catastrophic leg injury while leading the $500,000 Test and was euthanized; jockey Joel Rosario was unseated and treated in an Albany hospital for facial abrasions. NYRA said a required necropsy will be performed at Cornell University and analyzed by Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority officials, the New York State Equine Medical Director and NYRA leadership. Tyler Gaffalione, who won the Test on Pretty Mischievous, said, “I feel so bad for the connections of Mel. It’s hard to enjoy this one thinking about that. My condolences go out to their team.”

At Churchill Downs, Valley of Fire, a 3-year-old gelding trained by Greg Foley and owned by Tagg Team Racing, fractured both front legs during a morning workout on April 24, 2025 and was euthanized; the exercise rider was thrown and taken to the hospital with a shoulder injury. Valley of Fire was not an Oaks or Derby contender, per track reports.

Those recent fatalities underline the operational and business stakes for racing venues. A span of on-track deaths - quantified by the CHRB total and punctuated by named cases at Saratoga and Churchill Downs - intensifies scrutiny of pre-race inspections, on-site veterinary response and post-mortem procedures that affect owner liability, wagering confidence and the livelihoods of jockeys and exercise riders. At Los Alamitos, the lack of an immediate named rider, trainer or owner in the official chart leaves unanswered questions about medical follow-up and whether a necropsy will be performed to clarify the cause of Fire Flight’s catastrophic injury.