{"id":21042,"date":"2016-05-10T08:01:06","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T15:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/memories-of-barbaro-and-a-docs-regret-10-years-later\/"},"modified":"2016-05-10T08:01:06","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T15:01:06","slug":"memories-of-barbaro-and-a-docs-regret-10-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/memories-of-barbaro-and-a-docs-regret-10-years-later\/","title":{"rendered":"Memories of Barbaro, and a doc’s regret 10 years later"},"content":{"rendered":"

BALTIMORE<\/strong> \u2014 The passage of time has trickled ever so slowly for trainer Michael Matz since Barbaro\u2019s final gallop at the Preakness.<\/p>\n

A decade ago, Matz saddled the frisky Kentucky Derby winner with designs of pulling off an encore at Pimlico Race Course. Soon after emerging from the starting gate, Barbaro stumbled and broke his right hind leg.<\/p>\n

Despite the efforts of an esteemed veterinarian, the unrestricted financial backing of the horse\u2019s owners and the outpouring of love from racing fans around the world, the injuries Barbaro suffered at the Preakness ultimately led to his death.<\/p>\n

For those who knew the whimsical thoroughbred, vivid memories linger.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re looking for another horse like that, it seems like it\u2019s been ages,\u201d Matz said. \u201cI\u2019m hoping, but I don\u2019t have a great deal of confidence I\u2019m going to find it or it\u2019s going to find me.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because, as Barbaro owner Roy Jackson said, \u201cHe was one in a million horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barbaro came into the Preakness unbeaten in six races, but that\u2019s not the only reason why Matz loved the dark bay colt.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially this time of year, there are always memories of Barbaro,\u201d Matz said. \u201cOne minute he wins the Kentucky Derby in front of 160,000 people, and on Monday afternoon he\u2019s out in the paddock rolling around in the grass and having a good time. Those are the things that stand out.\u201d<\/p>\n

After tumbling to the dirt at the Preakness, Barbaro was transported to the New Bolton Center at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s rural Kennett Square campus, where Dr. Dean Richardson performed surgery. Although Barbaro\u2019s broken leg healed, he developed laminitis, a painful and often crippling hoof condition, in his left hind leg. Following several more procedures, Barbaro was found to have laminitis in both front legs.<\/p>\n

At that point, Richardson, along with owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson, realized the horse could not be saved. Barbaro was euthanized on January 29, 2007.<\/p>\n

Though Richardson is confident he did everything possible to keep the horse alive, he looks back at the time with no small measure of regret.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like there have been evolutionary changes in the technology over the last 10 years to repair this type of fracture,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cIn retrospect, however, there are certainly some subtle things that I would probably do differently today if I were to approach the same type of fracture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ask me, would I love to have another chance at saving Barbaro, the answer is categorically yes. That\u2019s more because I care so much about him, because he\u2019s a real special horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barbaro\u2019s situation was unusual in that the Jacksons were willing to spend thousands of dollars for veterinary care to keep him alive \u2014 and not necessarily because of his potential as a stud.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that horses can\u2019t be repaired, it\u2019s just that many times the economics of repairing a horse\u2019s injury are not aligned,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have the combination of an owner who has the resources and a horse that justifies that expense.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Jacksons and Barbaro fit the description.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe deserved whatever we could do to try to save him,\u201d Roy Jackson said. \u201cThe stud thing, it didn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barbaro\u2019s ashes are buried at Churchill Downs, the site of his biggest victory. A bronze statue of the horse stands atop his remains.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I sit on the sideline there, watch people take pictures in front of the statue,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cI think it\u2019s a great memorial for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barbaro\u2019s mother, La Ville Rouge, lives at the stables on the Jacksons\u2019 estate in Chester County, Pennsylvania. That, and the love Barbaro received 10 years ago, have helped his owners move on.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t dwell on it much,\u201d Roy Jackson said. \u201cWe got letters from people in every state and 14 foreign countries. We think back on the huge outpouring of support we got. That\u2019s what I think about more than the injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richardson has taken a similar stance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bitterness of losing him lessens over time,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019ve got a picture of Barbaro on my office wall and a painting of him at home. I certainly do still think about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matz has 70 stalls at the Fair Hill Training Center. He hopes to one day fill one of them with a horse capable of competing for the Triple Crown.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll trainers are looking for that, and I was lucky enough to get one in Barbaro,\u201d he said. \u201cThe worst part of it is, we never will really know how good he really was.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BALTIMORE \u2014 The passage of time has trickled ever so slowly for trainer Michael Matz since Barbaro\u2019s final gallop at the Preakness. A decade ago, Matz saddled the frisky Kentucky Derby winner with designs of pulling off an encore at Pimlico Race Course. Soon after emerging from the starting gate, Barbaro stumbled and broke his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":21043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-21042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21042"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=21042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}