hclager
01-29-2007, 12:04 PM
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/16572920.htm
Barbaro saga ends sadlyBy DICK JERARDI
jerardd@phillynews.com
File photo
Dean Richardson, chief surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center for Large Animals, walks Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro at the center in Kennett Square, Pa., in this Sept. 26, 2006 file photo. Barbaro had two steel pins placed in a bone in his right hind leg, a risky surgery that's the latest setback in the Kentucky Derby winner's fight for survival.Barbaro never finished behind a horse in any race he actually made the finish line. Sadly, it will be the race the colt never finished that will be the final public memory.
Barbaro, his front legs beginning to show signs of stress, was euthanized at 10:30 a.m. Monday at New Bolton Center in Kennett Square.
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"He started to have changes in the front feet," the colt's owner, Roy Jackson, told the Daily News. "Now, we were dealing with all four feet. Dean's [Dr. Dean Richardson, the chief of surgery at New Bolton] advice was and we were all concurrent on everything that we just don't want the horse to suffer."
After winning the Kentucky Derby by the largest margin in 60 years, that elusive Triple Crown seemed there for Barbaro's taking. Then, 2 weeks later, barely 200 yards into the Preakness at Pimlico, it was over, as the colt's right hind leg was left dangling, a harsh reminder that, in racing, nothing, not even a safe trip around the track, is guaranteed.
Barbaro won his first six races - three on grass, three on dirt. He was a late bloomer, but, by May, he was the one. Everybody with eyesight during Derby Week at Churchill Downs knew it. Then, Barbaro ran away from the Derby field in the stretch like the race had just started and he was searching for competition in some far-off racing universe.
Owned by Roy and Gretchen Jackson, of Chester County, and trained by Michael Matz, of Chester County, Barbaro was the third consecutive horse with Philadelphia connections to become a Triple Crown star. Unlike Smarty Jones and Afleet Alex, however, Barbaro did not get through racing's marquee series.
And everybody is left to wonder about what might have been. Nobody will ever know how good this horse really was.
That is sad. The finality of it is sadder.
"It's a sad situation because we had some bright periods," Roy Jackson said. "It looked like we might make it through the thing. Too much weight on the legs like that. Dean had said from the start it was going to be a long, long road. It was better not to go further and let him suffer."
Jackson was trying to hold his emotions in when talking about it. When asked how his wife was doing, he said: "I think the one it's been the hardest on is Dean Richardson.
"He was really upset by the whole thing. I think he probably feels like he failed or something. He's really taking it hard, like everybody ...
"I don't think any of them there [at New Bolton] should feel that way at all because they did a monumental job of trying to get through this whole thing."
After Barbaro was injured on May 20 in Baltimore, the colt was taken by horse ambulance up I-95 to New Bolton. People hung banners from the overpasses. They got out of their cars and waved. There was a connection.
fter Richardson performed the initial surgery on Barbaro on May 21, New Bolton was inundated with cards, emails, phone calls. It was like Barbaro went from the Jacksons' horse to everybody's horse.
When the news about Barbaro's recovery was so positive and continued that way for 6 weeks, most of the people relaxed, assuming the colt was going to get better. The horse people never relaxed. They knew better.
And when it started to turn in July, when the colt got laminitis in his left hind foot, Richardson and his team fought it hard. They tried everything. The colt survived that, but it was a bit of a mirage.
Richardson had to cut away 80 percent of the hoof. For the colt to have any chance at a normal life, that hoof would have to grow back evenly. It did not.
Early this month, a cast was placed on that hoof in an attempt to promote more even growth. A week later, the cast was removed because the colt was showing discomfort.
Complications piled upon complications. They were out of options. Barbaro was in pain and the Jacksons had always said they wanted the colt to live a pain-free life. When that could not be guaranteed, the hardest decision was made.
Yesterday morning, before the horse was put down. Richardson said: "It's such a combination of problems at this point."
His voice suggested he knew he was about of options.
"I'm disappointed in terms of [Sunday] night," he said. "We're just having trouble getting him to be as quiet and comfortable as we've always been able to get him in the past.
"It's not a good situation in terms of his overall condition in that there's so many problems at the moment that we're trying to sort out if there's too many to go on."
That left hind foot, Richardson said "was unsound."
Which is why they tried the cast on Jan. 3. That caused discomfort, which probably caused Barbaro to shift his weight back to the right rear leg. That leg just developed an abscess so they tried a last-ditch surgical procedure Saturday.
"One thing just led to another," Richardson said.
And the hardest decision was made.
"You could just tell a little bit the last couple of days," Jackson said. "His looks were slightly different. It was the right decision."
Top-class horses are often buried, often on a horse farm.
"We haven't really reached a conclusion [on that]," Roy Jackson said. "We've thought about it a little back with the laminitis thing. I really don't know exactly where would be the best place. We've got to think that out."
Barbaro saga ends sadlyBy DICK JERARDI
jerardd@phillynews.com
File photo
Dean Richardson, chief surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center for Large Animals, walks Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro at the center in Kennett Square, Pa., in this Sept. 26, 2006 file photo. Barbaro had two steel pins placed in a bone in his right hind leg, a risky surgery that's the latest setback in the Kentucky Derby winner's fight for survival.Barbaro never finished behind a horse in any race he actually made the finish line. Sadly, it will be the race the colt never finished that will be the final public memory.
Barbaro, his front legs beginning to show signs of stress, was euthanized at 10:30 a.m. Monday at New Bolton Center in Kennett Square.
Post a Comment
"He started to have changes in the front feet," the colt's owner, Roy Jackson, told the Daily News. "Now, we were dealing with all four feet. Dean's [Dr. Dean Richardson, the chief of surgery at New Bolton] advice was and we were all concurrent on everything that we just don't want the horse to suffer."
After winning the Kentucky Derby by the largest margin in 60 years, that elusive Triple Crown seemed there for Barbaro's taking. Then, 2 weeks later, barely 200 yards into the Preakness at Pimlico, it was over, as the colt's right hind leg was left dangling, a harsh reminder that, in racing, nothing, not even a safe trip around the track, is guaranteed.
Barbaro won his first six races - three on grass, three on dirt. He was a late bloomer, but, by May, he was the one. Everybody with eyesight during Derby Week at Churchill Downs knew it. Then, Barbaro ran away from the Derby field in the stretch like the race had just started and he was searching for competition in some far-off racing universe.
Owned by Roy and Gretchen Jackson, of Chester County, and trained by Michael Matz, of Chester County, Barbaro was the third consecutive horse with Philadelphia connections to become a Triple Crown star. Unlike Smarty Jones and Afleet Alex, however, Barbaro did not get through racing's marquee series.
And everybody is left to wonder about what might have been. Nobody will ever know how good this horse really was.
That is sad. The finality of it is sadder.
"It's a sad situation because we had some bright periods," Roy Jackson said. "It looked like we might make it through the thing. Too much weight on the legs like that. Dean had said from the start it was going to be a long, long road. It was better not to go further and let him suffer."
Jackson was trying to hold his emotions in when talking about it. When asked how his wife was doing, he said: "I think the one it's been the hardest on is Dean Richardson.
"He was really upset by the whole thing. I think he probably feels like he failed or something. He's really taking it hard, like everybody ...
"I don't think any of them there [at New Bolton] should feel that way at all because they did a monumental job of trying to get through this whole thing."
After Barbaro was injured on May 20 in Baltimore, the colt was taken by horse ambulance up I-95 to New Bolton. People hung banners from the overpasses. They got out of their cars and waved. There was a connection.
fter Richardson performed the initial surgery on Barbaro on May 21, New Bolton was inundated with cards, emails, phone calls. It was like Barbaro went from the Jacksons' horse to everybody's horse.
When the news about Barbaro's recovery was so positive and continued that way for 6 weeks, most of the people relaxed, assuming the colt was going to get better. The horse people never relaxed. They knew better.
And when it started to turn in July, when the colt got laminitis in his left hind foot, Richardson and his team fought it hard. They tried everything. The colt survived that, but it was a bit of a mirage.
Richardson had to cut away 80 percent of the hoof. For the colt to have any chance at a normal life, that hoof would have to grow back evenly. It did not.
Early this month, a cast was placed on that hoof in an attempt to promote more even growth. A week later, the cast was removed because the colt was showing discomfort.
Complications piled upon complications. They were out of options. Barbaro was in pain and the Jacksons had always said they wanted the colt to live a pain-free life. When that could not be guaranteed, the hardest decision was made.
Yesterday morning, before the horse was put down. Richardson said: "It's such a combination of problems at this point."
His voice suggested he knew he was about of options.
"I'm disappointed in terms of [Sunday] night," he said. "We're just having trouble getting him to be as quiet and comfortable as we've always been able to get him in the past.
"It's not a good situation in terms of his overall condition in that there's so many problems at the moment that we're trying to sort out if there's too many to go on."
That left hind foot, Richardson said "was unsound."
Which is why they tried the cast on Jan. 3. That caused discomfort, which probably caused Barbaro to shift his weight back to the right rear leg. That leg just developed an abscess so they tried a last-ditch surgical procedure Saturday.
"One thing just led to another," Richardson said.
And the hardest decision was made.
"You could just tell a little bit the last couple of days," Jackson said. "His looks were slightly different. It was the right decision."
Top-class horses are often buried, often on a horse farm.
"We haven't really reached a conclusion [on that]," Roy Jackson said. "We've thought about it a little back with the laminitis thing. I really don't know exactly where would be the best place. We've got to think that out."