[QUOTE=VirginiaBred;1994322]
Update 1030: Frank DeFord offers his vote for Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year: My Sportsmen: Roy & Gretchen Jackson, Michael Matz. The article ends:
But in saving Barbaro, the Jacksons and their trainer made so many people care – even people who never paid much never mind to horse racing. They embroidered their sport with goodness and nobility and made us all see that sometimes dreams can come true – even if it wasn’t the dream we first had in mind. Barbaro didn’t win the Triple Crown. Because of the people who loved him, he won life.
[/QUOTE]
I agree, it would have been so much easier to just put him down, take the money and move on. Nobody would have blamed them. The odds of him recovering to even have a life, much less be a stud were astronomical. But they did it anyway and beat the odds (so far). But isn’t that what racing is about? Beating the odds?
But they left out Edgar who did a masterful job of pulling him up and has continued to visit with him. Very few jockeys care that much for their horses. They can’t really, there are too many of them and not every jockey takes up riding because they love horses. Some don’t even like them.
And now Barbaro has shown what can be done and much has been learned about caring for horses with such injuries and laminitis. But a huge part of it has been his own intelligence and willing to work with the people around him instead of fighting them. Many horses, esp. stallions, are their own worst enemies.
Of course most of us would love to do the same for our own animals but can’t afford it. Let’s just be happy that Barbaro’s family had the money to pay for his huge bills and enough in the bank so to speak that collecting insurance wasn’t necessary for them where it is for others.
