Barbaro ~ America's Horse

[VirginiaBred]

Barbaro continues to improve with new cast

Kennett Square, PA (Sports Network)

• Injured Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro continues to improve at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals, one month after suffering a career ending injury.
  The three-year-old colt had his first cast replaced last week with a fiberglass one by surgeon Dr. Dean Richardson. Barbaro remains in the Intensive Care Unit at the New Bolton Center.
  “He’s a lively, bright, happy horse,” said Dr. Richardson, Chief of Surgery.
  Owned by Roy and Gretchen Jackson of nearby West Grove, Barbaro sustained a shattered right hind leg early in the running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, May 20 at Pimlico Race Course. Dr. Richardson and his team performed surgery the following day.
  “He’s enjoying carrots and other treats, and is friendly and frisky,” noted Dr. Richardson. “I’m very pleased with the progress he’s made in the last month.”
  The Jacksons, who run their thoroughbreds under the Lael Stable name, will see their Lexington Stakes winner Showing Up compete in Saturday’s $1 million Colonial Turf Cup at Colonial Downs in Virginia.

[MHM]

I can’t imagine how hard it’s been for Barbaro to go from racing fit to complete stall rest in the last month. “Feisty” must be an understatement.

VB, thanks again for posting all the updates so diligently! It’s great to hear he’s doing so well.

[tradewind]

thanks

thanks for all the continued updates…i really appreciate it

[sid]

I’ve been keeping up with this thread all along…I get so darned emotional about the heart and courage Barbaro exudes.

Sounds like he’s acting like a strapping, energetic young stallion who’s confidently taking his challenge of recovery in the same easy fashion that he breezed through the Kentucky Derby.

VB you’re great for posting all of these updates all these wonderful updates!

[Carol_Ames]

where are the articles? I don’t see them?

[showmom07]

Breyers & Beanies

6-21-06

Barbaro enjoys another good day

Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner who is recovering from a broken right rear leg, had another good day yesterday at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa.

His owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, also reported they have signed with The Breyers Line and Beanie Babies to produce a plastic replica and Beanie Baby of Barbaro, respectively.

“Any and all the money that is earned from these items is going to the New Bolton Barbaro Fund or other horse-related charity,” Gretchen Jackson said.

[VirginiaBred]

Update 124: Barbaro had another good night last night (wednesday night). Just spoke to Michael Matz who had the phone call from Dean Richardson.
I am sitting here with Fair Hill regular Kathee Rengert, who was cited in the article from the Baltimore Sun yesterday which we included in update 120. Kathee (in conjunction with Walnut Green) was the bloodstock agent for the purchase of La Ville Rouge (Barbaro’s mum).
I asked Kathee to tell me a little bit about the Jackson’s, friends of hers.
Kathy: “They are very compassionate people, and Gretchen noted the fact the situation with Barbaro has elevated her awareness of the unique nature of each individual horse. She herself said that her awareness of the horses other than Barbaro has been elevated, as to their unique personalities and varying needs. She is heavily involved in the care and awareness of retired racehorses.”
“Gretchen was asked by the reporter of the Baltmore Sun what the plans were three months out for Barbaro, but she defered and considered this a day to day situation.”
Kathy also went on to note: “The horse looks fabulous, I was amazed at how well he looked when I visited.”
update 7:45 am, Clockers Stand, Fair Hill
Update 123: Just spoke to Peter Brette who visited Barbaro today (Wednesday afternoon)…he remains in great condition. So it looks like another good day for Bobby.
Update 122: For a little light relief I wanted to do some exploring on google to see how popular Barbaro has been in the last month or so. I compared Barbaro with “Paris Hilton” and it is good to see that for six days at least, Barbaro was a more popular search query! Unfortunately for June this is not the case (despite the continued press references). There does not seem to be a scale that lets you know the volume of queries. We did run a google adwords campaign to alert people of this site beginning the sunday after the Preakness. We received 3k visits in one hour, much of the traffic coming from google (when Bobby came out of surgery). The site crashed and Eliza has been adding bandwidth ever since.

[VirginiaBred]

My continued thanks to Tim Woolley’s Racing Blog:

Update 127: Another good day for Barbaro (thursday). Just spoke to Peter Brette who provided the news. Keep the good thoughts coming, its a long road ahead.
Update 126: As we noted in update in update 117, the Jackson’s are pleased that Barbaro has highlighted issues close to horsemen’s needs. One such issue cited is the horse-slaughter bill. According to recent comments this bill is coming up for vote sometime in the next several days. You can access: Home Stretch for Horses to learn more about what you can do.
Update 125: A very nice article on our Fair Hill vet (and sometimes contributor to this site) Kathy Anderson: [URL=“http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/sports/story.html?id=482195ba-3c6f-420d-835a-bae004fcce89”]
Barbaro her best bet: U of S grad shares close relationship with Derby winner (thanks Lynette). I mentioned to Kathy this morning this article had been published, it was from a phone interview yesterday (it is amazing how news and the internet work). The article includes the following excerpt:

Anderson will never forget watching Barbaro’s life change on that Saturday afternoon which, she says, “vacillated between blustery threats of rain and tranquil sunshine.” Anderson and a crowd of more than 200 settled in to watch the Preakness on television from Barbaro’s home base at Fair Hill.
Their hero was hobbling less than one-eighth of a mile into the race.
“Shock became horror as we realized the seriousness of Barbaro’s gait,” Anderson wrote in her journal. “The race was run but we did not see it, for our hearts were crying out for Barbaro to stay upright and be able to leave the race course in one piece.” Soon after, Anderson’s cellphone began ringing . . . Dr. Dean Richardson called from Florida . . . Dr. Scott Palmer phoned from the Preakness track in Baltimore . . . and trainer Michael Matz called for Palmer’s number.

Much of the above is from an e-mail Kathy sent to her friends sunday night, which she kindly let us reproduce as update 14. It remains my favourite article on this horrific incident, although I am not yet prepared to reread it! As one of the 200 or so present at the party I can recall vividly the moment of the tragedy, Kathy was positioned just to the right of the TV, her head dropped to her hands. I left the room (I don’t think or certainly recall watching the finish of the race) and remained outside for the next hour or so, talking to others who were in shock. Kathy walked by, I asked her if she knew the current status of Barbaro (I think she knew that we were covering Barbaro’s Preakness preparations on this site). I was amazed at her openness to share exactly what she knew at the time, based on the phone calls she had received / made.
We still have a long way to go, lets hope the news continues to remain very positive!

[VirginiaBred]

Update 128: Another good night for Barbaro last night (thursday night). I spoke to Peter Brette this morning who let me know. I also asked Peter whether there was padding in his stall (this question has come up in the comments) to protect Barbaro from doing further damage from kicking the stall walls etc. The answer is no. Peter had previously asked Dr. Richardson about this (clearly it would seem to make sense to have padding) but apparently the padding is much harder to keep clean and thus could raise the likelihood of infection etc (its nice to know the reason). Peter said it can be frightening to watch Barbaro get up and down!
update friday, June 23, 7:50 AM

[VirginiaBred]

Update 129: A few nice articles have been posted in the comments. Broken-down and busted but with something left in the tank is further illustration of the ‘reach’ of Barbaro, this article coming from Australia. The following excerpt signals this:

Prof gives Barbaro a “good chance” of recovery. “It’s always hard,” he went on, “because it was a monumental traumatic injury. They have put a bucketload of hardware in. That’s not always the complete answer, but I’m sure it’s been done by capable people. The longer he goes the better chance he has.”

Not sure how many vets in the states would use the term ‘bucketload’ to describe the amount of hardware involved.
As many already know, Barbaro is joining the Breyer line of model horses: Barbaro becomes a model. What is perhaps less known is this is not the first of Michael Matz’s horses to join the Breyer family:

Barbaro’s trainer, Michael Matz, also has a prior connection to Breyer, which made a model of his Olympic show jumper Jet Run in the 1980s.

Ten dollars from each sale will be donated to the Barbaro Fund.
Finally, a nice article on the New Bolton Center itself: Now known for Barbaro, Pa. vet hospital has other patients, tasks which describes the work NBC does for many types of patients:

Some are more cooperative than others. On one recent day, it took at least three veterinarians to coax a bull back into the barn after it had undergone a castration operation.
And then there was the curtain-chewing colt, a patient in Widener’s neonatal intensive care unit. The horse’s feistiness seemed to please veterinarian Jon Palmer, who had recently performed surgery to correct an intestinal problem.
Earlier that day, Palmer finished treating an alpaca with a newborn that did not know how to nurse. He also was monitoring one mare’s high-risk pregnancy while keeping an eye on another who had just given birth.
Palmer sees about 180 animals a year in the neonatal ICU, including goats, pigs, sheep and cattle, with the occasional deer, camel, zebra and antelope.

[Bugs-n-Frodo]

I am so glad to hear that he is still doing well. I think I will have to get one of the Breyer models. I collect them, though I usually only get one or two in a year. He has to be one of them!

[lizathenag]

I think that would be a steer!

@VirginiaBred

coax a bull back into the barn after it had undergone a castration operation.

I wish they would make the Barbaro Beyer in the Xmas ornament size!

[VirginiaBred]

Update 131: A couple of nice articles from the comments. We should start by wishing the Jackson’s good luck: Showing Up Center Stage at Colonial (thanks Lisa). The article further highlights the Jackson’s, Babaro’s prognosis and a quote from Barclay Tagg. The following are excerpts:

The feeling is mutual. Tagg trains about 20 horses for the Jacksons and was impressed with the way they coped with Barbaro’s breakdown.
“I was there when he got hurt, and I was there when they loaded him on the ambulance,” said Tagg, who also trained 2003 Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide. “I talked to the Jacksons, and they were very upset and very nice. They’re understanding people, and they know what kind of game they’re in. We all fall in love with the horses, I don’t care what anybody says. If you didn’t, you’d be crazy to be in the game seven days a week.”

and

At the New Bolton Center intensive care unit, reports on Barbaro’s progress are uniformly positive, but no one should assume he is out of danger, said Corinne Sweeney, the hospital’s executive director.
“I think it continues to concern us that the public might not be aware that he still has a way to go,” she said. “Dr. [Dean] Richardson and the whole team are extremely pleased with his progress, but they are also realists and he has weeks ahead that contain potential complications. It’s a fine line. It’s realism, not pessimism. If you’re in the field of medicine or veterinary medicine, it’s the animal body and there are many elements to healing. It’s not like changing a spark plug.”

Lets hope Showing Up can prevail at Colonial Downs for the Jacksons, it would be a nice distraction. Showing Up was actually trained at fair Hill last summer / fall before Barclay’s horses left for the winter.
The second article: Barbaro wearing new cast well; remains ‘grand patient’ (thanks Daphne) highlights some of Barbaro’s new skills:

“To amuse him, besides feeding him some snacks, some of the nurses on the ward line peppermints up on the edge [of his stall], and he’s gotten very clever at being able to get to each one between the bars before they fall off the edge,” Sweeney said. “Any patient that is there for an extended period of time, all of the staff here forms a good relationship with. He’s now been a resident of the hospital for almost five weeks, and he certainly has endeared himself.”

Update 130: Barbaro continues to do well. Just spoke to Peter Brette this morning (saturday morning). He may visit later today, in his words: “If I can get finished here in time” (I spoke to him as he was working in the barn). Peter was actually holding court to some visitors visiting Fair Hill and Michael Matz’s barn this morning, answering many questions (well I just arrived as it was finishing). It is nice to see people visiting Fair Hill during training hours, even on a gloomy morning as we experienced today. I would have got this update completed earlier but it was a busy morning’s work (rode nine horses).
update: saturday, June 24, 10:50 AM

[Laurel_HollyFarm]

Showing Up won!

Congrats to the Jacksons! Could not have happened to nicer folks. One good deed does desire another .

[VirginiaBred]

Update 133: Michael Matz showed up at the local bar halfway through the England game to buy his lunch to go. (I am not sure he was expecting half of Fair Hill to be at the bar watching the world cup.) Anyway, he said things remain the same for Barbaro as of this morning, so that is good news! Of course England winning is good news too, although Michael did leave before Beckham scored the only goal (and what a goal it was)!
Update 132: I spoke to Michael Matz this morning, and no updates yet from New Bolton (sometimes the call comes in later than other times). He did mention he visited yesterday afternoon and all was well, so saturday afternoon is our latest update. I will try to get more information later, but it may be a tough day for updates (England are playing etc!)
A nice win for Showing Up, the Jackson’s and Barclay Tagg. Although I missed the race, I am told he was impressive. Also noteworthy is Film Maker’s nice return to the races, winning a grade 3. When the time was right I did want to mention how well Better Talk Now ran in the race before the Preakness, I guess now is as good a time as any!. Both these horses (Better Talk Now and Film Maker) are trained by Graham Motion, who is another fantastic trainer at Fair Hill. I don’t know how old each horse is but they seem to have been running at a very high level for a long time!
On a more sombre note, when I was in San Francisco last weekend, Fair Hill was reminded what a dangerous sport we participate. All things can be going so well one minute, and then distaster strikes (well Barbaro does remind us of that everyday for sure). Anyway, trainer Mike Rea was involved in a horrific accident, and is currently in the ICU in Baltimore. His family have created a blog: Mike Rea’s Recovery Info & Updates. Mike was actually the “exercise rider” (he is actually a trainer) cited in the article we posted a while back: Matz: ‘I’m just sad for racing’:

Matz said that an exercise rider who works for another trainer at Fair Hill rode past Matz on the track the other morning and offered encouragement.
“I think he’s a born-again Christian,” Matz said. "He was shook up. He said, ‘The Lord doesn’t give you anything you can’t handle.’ Then he rode away a couple of strides, stopped, looked back and said, ‘He must think you’re an awfully tough guy.’ "
Matz chuckled, probably for the first time in a week.

I asked Mike Rea about the quote shortly after the article appeared, and while he confessed to the quote, he hoped it was the journalist, and not Michael (Matz), who confused him for an exercise rider and not a trainer!

[VirginiaBred]

Update 134: I have not yet had a chance to catch up with Michael Matz’s barn yet this morning (but will return to Fair Hill once ‘training’ is over to get an update). The weather this morning was very wet, thus many barns stayed dry by not going out to the racetracks. I did get a chance to talk to ‘Chuck’, a Fair Hill vet and associate of Kathy Anderson’s. (Chuck actually was the vet kind enough to call me as soon as Barbaro was out of surgery (Update 5) so I could post that update ASAP.) He confirmed the two key things at this stage are the need for the bones to heal and take over the work currently being done by the ‘hardware’; and the potential for Laminitis. I imagine the former is the bigger concern (the cast replacement process indicated this was progressing in the right direction); the potential for the latter would increase if Barbaro is not comfortable putting weight on his injured leg (so far this does not seem to be the case); and if Barbaro was not comfortable getting up and down. Chuck mentioned the best thing for Barbaro is the ability to lie down and sleep for a couple of hours. The process of getting up, however, puts the most pressure (torque was mentioned) on the injured leg. Chuck explained to me the cause of Laminitis, but it was a little technical for me, so I have linked to the wikipedia entry.

[VirginiaBred]

Maybe Barbaro won’t be missed after all

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - After the less than exciting Belmont Stakes this year many horse racing fans began to ring their hands over the lack of a standout three-year-old. It appeared that the now retired Barbaro might capture the division title by default.
But now who should pop up to make a possible run for the Eclipse Award as champion three-year-old of 2006, Barbaro’s stablemate Showing Up. Both colts are owned by Roy and Gretchen Jackson of Lael Stable.
Showing Up captured this past weekend’s $1 million Colonial Turf Cup in his first venture on grass. His first four career starts were all on dirt and the biggest win was in the Lexington Stakes. Showing Up finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby after running near the lead.
In the Colonial Turf Cup at Colonial Downs, Showing Up was running comfortably with several horses as many as 20 lengths behind the leader, Kip Deville. Jockey Cornelio Velasquez did not panic by Kip Deville’s massive lead. The rider sat chilly on Showing Up until the turn for home.
Showing Up caught Kip Deville at the top of the stretch, passed him in mid- stretch and posted a 3 1/4 length victory. In winning the 1 3/16 turf race, Showing Up rewrote the track record by more than one-second to 1:52.98.
The Jacksons’ colt now has the opportunity to lay claim to the $5 million Grand Slam of Grass. The three-year-old will have to win the $1 million Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs on July 15, the $400,000 Secretariat Stakes on August 12 at Arlington Park and the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs on November 4.
If Showing Up sweeps the four races his owners receive a total of $5 million. Of course, the Breeders’ Cup Turf will be the most difficult to win since older horses will be involved.
It probably is no fluke that Barclay Tagg is the trainer of Showing Up. Tagg was and is the trainer of Funny Cide.
When voting begins on the Eclipse Awards, such an accomplishment should not be overlooked. It’s unusual that a thoroughbred who does not win at least one of the Triple Crown races is named Champion Three-year-old.
This victory by Showing Up has the potential to reinvigorate interest among even the casual racing fan. Showing Up may not run in the traditional summer events for three-year-olds, but it will be interesting to follow him in his future endeavors.
Let’s hope that thoroughbred racing does not drop the ball in promoting this potentially new star. It will be great to write about an active horse and his accomplishments, instead of medical updates on a retired thoroughbred.

06/26 10:21:39 ET

[VirginiaBred]

New Bolton director cautions against Barbaro complacency

While Dr. Corinne Sweeney, the director of the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, said Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro had another good day yesterday, she also cautioned about complacency.

Barbaro is at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals in Kennett Square, Pa., recovering from a broken rear right leg he suffered in the Preakness. Sweeney said that while every good day puts the horse further from infection and the possibility of laminitis, “it is a misconception to think the potential for complications has been eliminated.”
Sweeney said that while the prospect of infection drops dramatically the further down the road Barbaro gets, laminitis, an infection that can occur in Barbaro’s left foot due to overuse, “is always a concern.”

Though it, too, lessens every day, it doesn’t totally go away until Barbaro is back, solidly on all fours.

“His whole good health and the way he’s bearing his weight is encouraging,” she said. “But hearing good news about him every day can give the impression that nothing more can go wrong, and that’s not the case.”

[ponymom64]

VB - thanks for your continued updates.

[BBowen]

VirginiaBred:

You don’t know how much I appreciate being able to come to this board and get an update on Barbaro. He has captured the hearts of so many. Thank you so much for keeping the updates coming.