Santa Anita’s nightmare continued Tuesday when a Ronald McAnally-trained filly, Lets Light the Way, broke down during morning training and had to be euthanized.

The latest death raised the total to 21 since Santa Anita’s winter meet began Dec. 26. Seven have died as a result of racing on the main track, five on the turf and nine during morning workouts.

Later Tuesday, Santa Anita issued a press release announcing that it is rehiring former track superintendent Dennis Moore as a consultant. Moore resigned before the current meet began and his top assistant, Andy LaRocco, was named to replace him.

Track officials said Moore would be on the grounds later in the afternoon as a precautionary measure with regard to the condition of the track.

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The 69-year-old Moore, one of the most highly respected trackmen in the business, had been Santa Anita’s track superintendent from 2014 until leaving The Stronach Group in December. The former track superintendent at the now-defunct Hollywood Park, Moore is still the track super at Del Mar and Los Alamitos.

Santa Anita management summoned soil expert Mick Peterson last week to test its main track, suspending morning workouts for two days while Peterson and LaRocco took samples and examined the track’s cushion, pad and base.

In addition, Peterson used ground-penetrating radar to ensure uniform consistency throughout the 1-mile oval after LaRocco and his crew performed maintenance on the track.

Santa Anita re-opened for racing last Thursday after Peterson declared the track “one hundred percent ready” for racing. Since then, two more horses have broken down — Eskenforadrink in Saturday’s third race and Lets Light the Way, a 4-year-old filly that had raced only four times and had one victory since beginning her career in November 2017.

McAnally told bloodhorse.com that he believes the 11 1/2 inches of rain that Santa Anita has absorbed this year is the main cause of all the fatalities.

“Weather is the cause of all of this,” he said. “I loved that filly. I bought her at the sale, like the way she walked. I feel as bad as anybody, but that’s the first I had. I wanted to cry when we had to put her down.”

With more rain expected Tuesday and Wednesday, Santa Anita announced Sunday that it was canceling its Thursday card and would re-open for racing with an 11-race program Friday. That is still the plan, with the Big ‘Cap race scheduled for Saturday.

Santa Anita’s recent rash of fatalities is the worst in Southern California since Del Mar’s 2016 summer meet when there were 17 deaths in 36 days. Del Mar then hired Moore as its track superintendent and there were only six deaths the following summer.

Saratoga suffered through similar issues in 2017 when there were 19 fatalities during its summer meet.