BRIEFLY 3 HORSES EUTHANIZED AFTER DEL MAR SPILL.

Byline: - Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Three jockeys were injured and three horses euthanized on the track Monday following a chain-reaction accident during the fourth race at Del Mar.

Jose Silva and Anthony Lovato were the most seriously injured, both fracturing a vertebra in their lower backs.

Lovato was taken to Scripps Hospital in Encinitas after complaining of lower back pain, and track spokesman Dan Smith said the X-rays revealed a fracture of the No. 1 lower lumbar vertebra. He said Lovato would be transferred to Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, where Silva was being cared for after fracturing the same vertebra.

Tyler Baze broke his left foot and left big toe and was taken to the Del Mar Clinic. He returned to the track right after the seventh race wearing a protective boot. Mr. Powerful, Jentzen and Pacific Price were put down on the track.

--Haskell Invitational winner Peace Rules is out of the Pacific Classic and Whitney Handicap winner Medaglia d'Oro is in the Aug. 24 race at Del Mar.

BASKETBALL: Lisa Leslie is expected to return to the Sparks' lineup Thursday at Minnesota, a little more than four weeks after injuring her right knee in the WNBA All-Star Game.

--Former Lakers and Clippers player Larry Drew was hired as an assistant coach by the New Jersey Nets.

--Former Louisville basketball player Marques Maybin was paralyzed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident in his hometown, his father told a newspaper.

PAN AM GAMES: United States swimmers won three of the five races, including a romp in the women's 800-meter freestyle relay, and collected four silvers in the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Team handball, hardly a mainstream American sport, produced a bronze for the men, who beat Uruguay 25-23.

SOCCER: Cal State Northridge women's soccer coach Allison Lee has resigned in order to spend more time with her family and assistant Mac Thompson was named the interim coach.