Horse Racing News is the source of thoroughbred racing information with horse racing odds, betting tips, racing picks, race results, and handicapping. Latest news and articles on top horse racing contenders, jockeys, trainers, three-year-olds, race tracks, and major stakes races such as the Triple Crown races: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes as well as the Breeders' Cup horse races.Barbaro In Very Critical Condition
Posted on Friday, July 14th, 2006
(AP) — He still looks every bit the champion. Only the fiberglass casts on not one but both of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro’s hind legs are indicators of something terribly wrong.
“His ears are up, he’s bright, he’s looking around,” Dr. Dean Richardson said Thursday. “If you look at this horse, it’d be hard to put him down.”
That precisely is the heartbreaking task that could be imminent because of a hoof disease so serious Richardson said the champion horse is “a long shot” to survive.
“It could happen within 24 hours,” Richardson said during a news conference at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center.
Richardson said Barbaro has a severe case of laminitis in his left hind leg — a painful, often fatal disease caused by uneven weight distribution in the limbs.
Barbaro is being treated aggressively with pain medication and remains in the same stall he’s been in since being brought to the intensive care unit at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals.
Until his misstep at the Preakness Stakes, Barbaro’s career was nothing short of brilliant.
He won his first five starts, including the Florida Derby. His 6 1-2-length victory at the Derby was so convincing he was being hailed as the next likely Triple Crown champion — and first since Affirmed since 1978.
Edgar Prado, the jockey credited with saving Barbaro by quickly pulling him up in the Preakness, was devastated by the grim prognosis.
“All we can do now is hope and pray. We’ll need a miracle, but maybe it will happen.”
"Barbaro In Very Critical Condition" was posted on Friday, July 14th, 2006 at 9:54 am and is filed under Horse Racing Industry, Horses, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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