The surface was harrowed to perfection. Workers only were allowed on the track. A squad of monitoring veterinarians was on patrol. Strict medication and whip protocols were firmly in place. And still, two racehorses collided and died. The terrible collision near Del Mar’s three-quarter pole Thursday morning shook the backstretch to its bones. John Sadler, whose 2-year-old Inspiressa missed the freakish accident by a whisker, was still wearing a thousand-yard stare half an hour later at the barn. “I was standing with Bob Baffert at my usual spot, so it happened right in front of us,” Sadler said. “And it happened so fast. I mean, like right now. Our filly was working with the Baffert team. The loose horse spun around and ran right into the one in the middle. It was only sheer luck it wasn’t our horse. I heard Bob say, ‘Oh, shit.’ ” An honest obscenity is always forgiven in the face of grotesque tragedy. For the record, the Baffert horse killed in the crash was Carson Valley, a 3-year-old grandson of Baffert stars Midnight Lute and Tough Tiz’s Sis who had yet to run a race. The loose horse killed was Charge a Bunch, a 2-year-old son of Will Take Charge trained by Carla Gaines. Geovanni Franco, aboard Charge a Bunch, was apparently uninjured, while Asa Espinoza, riding Carson Valley, was sent to the hospital for precautionary X-rays. Of all the nightmares at the racetrack, what happened early Thursday contends for the very worst. All the preventive policies in the world can never protect the sport from the darkest possibilities attached to half-ton Thoroughbreds running at high speeds. After throwing Franco, who tried in vain to hang onto the reins, Charge a Bunch could have gone any direction. The direction he chose killed him and another horse – not Lasix, not shockwave treatment, not joint injection, steroids, clenbuterol, or undetected bone remodeling. Because of the borderline corporate hysteria generated by the 30 fatalities at Santa Anita Park during its six-month season – a hysteria that led the racing community to believe that every “next” equine death would bring an end to the sport at the hands of animal-rights protestors – it was logical to assume that “woe is us” would be wailed from every shed row Thursday morning. But no. The overriding mood was one of deep concern for the condition of the riders, accompanied by a heart-rending sadness at the loss of two horses taken from the herd as if victims of some perverse rapture. Suddenly, the words of champion British trainer Mark Johnston sprung to mind, from an interview earlier in the week with journalist Nick Godfrey: “We’ve got to this situation where we’ve got pressure from so-called animal-rights groups who simply cannot accept the simple facts of life and death,” Johnston said. Amid the deaths of Carson Valley and Charge a Bunch, sweet life was all around, especially at the Sadler barn fresh from an opening-day victory by the talented Irish colt Jasikan in the Oceanside Stakes. All eyes now turn to Saturday’s San Diego Handicap, in which Sadler will dispatch defending champ Catalina Cruiser for brothers Pete and Kosta Hronis. That’s him, the monster over there hanging his goofy blaze out of the stall, looking for trouble or treats, flicking his ears and leering with just enough of a white-rimmed eye to appear passably dangerous. Catalina Cruiser is now a 5-year-old in the fullness of Thoroughbred maturity, weighing in at 1,230 pounds and giving off a Brooks Koepka vibe. “Compared to last year, I’d say he’s physically about the same but more mature mentally,” Sadler said. “He knows he doesn’t need to go out and work as fast as he can anymore.” His pedigree screams 10 furlongs, combining as it does a mix of Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags and Horse of the Year Mineshaft. Going from the 1 1/16-mile San Diego (in which he should dust a handful of foes) to the 1 1/4-mile Pacific Classic on Aug. 17 would be a dream parlay, since the brawny chestnut is about the only bona fide star with a Del Mar campaign on his summer agenda, now that McKinzie and Game Winner are fleeing East. “I’m looking forward to how he runs on Saturday, because I really think he might be ready to go on and try the bigger distances,” Sadler said. Catalina Cruiser’s only loss came in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill Downs last fall, in which his inexperience showed. With precious little to choose from during the late California spring, Sadler sent Catalina Cruiser to New York for his 2019 debut to win the True North Stakes at Belmont Park on the day before the Belmont Stakes. Sadler gives credit to the crew sailing Catalina Cruiser, including groom Otanel Quinteros, galloper David Pineda, and work rider Juan Leyva, whose combined skills have seen the big horse through a career of five wins in six races. As the shock of the morning’s tragedy lingered, it was the people in his charge, now preparing another set for training, who were paramount in his mind. “I’ve always told my crew that I’m their safety net,” Sadler said. “I take that responsibility to them very seriously. Then a day like today comes along, and you promise yourself to keep doing everything you can.”