KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. (AP) - Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro went into surgery Sunday to determine the extent of “life-threatening injuries” after the colt broke three bones above and below his right rear ankle at the start of the Preakness Stakes.
The surgery was being performed by Dr. Dean Richardson at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center for Large Animals. He said the operation could take several hours.
Richardson, the chief of surgery for the center, said the injuries were “very, very serious,” and that he’s never worked on so many catastrophic injuries to one horse.
“You do not see this severe injury frequently because the fact is most horses that suffer this typically are put down on the race track,” Richardson said. “This is rare.”
“It’s about as bad as it could be,” he added. “The main thing going for the horse is a report that his skin was not broken at the time of injury. It’s a testament to the care given to the team of doctors on the track and (jockey) Mr. Prado on the racetrack.”
Richardson said Barbaro sustained a broken cannon bone above the ankle, a broken sesamoid bone behind the ankle and a broken long pastern bone below the ankle. The fetlock joint, the ankle, was dislocated.
“The aspects of the surgery will be dictated slightly by what we find,” Richardson said. “But the bottom line is we will attempt to perform a fusion of that joint and to stabilize it and make it comfortable enough for him to walk on.”
