The 2-year-old Louisiana-bred filly Miss Persistent had to be euthanized Saturday at Fair Grounds after spooking, falling, and striking her head on concrete while being bathed outside trainer Sam David’s barn.

“It was a freak accident,” said David. “She was getting a bath, slid, hit her head, and wound up having to be put down. She’d galloped great, came back to the barn, was fine when she walked outside, but something startled her. Nobody knows what it was. She was normally a very calm filly.”

Miss Persistent hemorrhaged internally and to be put down shortly after the accident.

Owned by Val Murrell and Ted Brandon, Miss Persistent was by Custom for Carlos out of Valory. She’d won her first two starts – a maiden race at Evangeline Downs in August and an entry-level Louisiana-bred allowance race Nov. 16 at Fair Grounds by more than seven lengths, and was being pointed to the Louisiana Champions Day Lassie at the time of her tragic demise.