Barbaro continues to show improvement
KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. – Amid the public outpouring of sympathy for Barbaro and his owners’ hopes that “someday all of you will be able to see little Barbaros running around the track,” there remains an underlying question:
Would all this money and time be spent on a horse’s recovery if he were not the Kentucky Derby winner and expected to gain millions in stud fees?
“If this horse were a gelding these owners would have definitely done everything to save this horse’s life,” said Dr. Dean Richardson, who pinned together the leg bones the 3-year-old shattered in the Preakness. “If this horse could have absolutely no reproductive value, they would have saved this horse’s life.”
Even if Barbaro becomes a stallion, there still would be questions concerning his ability to cover mares because of the catastrophic injury to his hind leg.
“But that’s a long way from now,” Richardson said. “If he’s doing well, it’s conceivable he could possibly be breeding mares next year, but that’s way ahead of it. He’s just a few days into post op.”
Even so, there was more good news Tuesday from the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, where Barbaro was transported Saturday night directly from Pimlico Race Course.
“He’s actually better today than he was even yesterday and he was pretty good yesterday,” Richardson said, noting the colt was able to balance himself enough to scratch his left ear with his left hind leg. “He’s walking very well on the limb, absolutely normal vital signs. He’s doing very well.”
Nothing could make owners Gretchen and Roy Jackson happier. The couple live about 10 miles away from the center, in West Grove, Pa., and Gretchen Jackson is on the board of overseers at the hospital.
“My only hope for him is that he lives a painless life,” she said at a news conference. “Whether that means he’ll be a stallion and we’re lucky enough to see little Barbaros, that would be a supreme hope for him.”
“We’ve run the gamut of emotions from the euphoria of the Kentucky Derby to the devastation of the Preakness,” her husband, Roy, said. “The sad part is that in Barbaro’s case, the American public won’t get a chance to see him continue his racing career. We’re just glad we jumped a hurdle here so far.”