People nationwide are pulling for champion thoroughbred who suffered a heart-rending break in the Preakness
By Melissa Isaacson
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 23, 2006
It was with a keen clinical eye based on years of experience working with and treating champion horses that Martin Allen watched Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro's right hind leg buckle at the Preakness Stakes on Saturday.
But it was with a heavy heart that the veterinary surgeon from the University of Illinois with no personal connection to the horse "had to stand up and choke back tears."
Whether it is the basic human reaction to seeing an animal suffering or a deeper response stirred in anyone who has ever watched a beautiful thoroughbred in action, there is a romanticism associated with the racehorse that exists with no others.
And so it was that from those in the industry to the casual fan to people who simply heard on the news or read in the newspaper of Barbaro's plight, that the horse's traumatic injury has touched so many.
"My initial reaction was like everyone else, that my heart absolutely sank," said John Nicholson, executive director of the famed Kentucky Horse Park, the retirement home of John Henry, Cigar and other noted racehorses. "People who get close to horses understand what Winston Churchill was talking about when he said there's something about what the outside of a horse does to the inside of a man.
"When you see such a magnificent animal who has so much heart and so much character and the worst kind of bad luck threatening his life, it touches something very deep, deep down inside of us."
Barbaro, considered by many to be headed for the first Triple Crown in racing since Affirmed accomplished the feat in 1978, was in stable condition Monday after surgery over the weekend to repair shattered bones that required 23 screws to help fuse the joint.
It was an injury of rare severity, and an even more extraordinary procedure performed at the University of Pennsylvania. And at least one veterinarian was mesmerized.
"I was ecstatic," said Allen, who in addition to his duties at Illinois, one of the nation's top veterinary facilities, also comes from a harness racing family that has bred several world champions. "In many other parts of the country, the horse would have been euthanized at the racetrack, but with Dr. [Dean] Richardson as close as he was and with the technology and education and means to do the surgery, we owe it to the horse to do it."
Horses with injuries far less severe than Barbaro's are often put down for several reasons. One, said Allen, is that a horse will shift all of its weight to the unafflicted limbs, leaving those more susceptible to break down. Death can also be hastened by the blockage of blood supply to the lower limb and by infection, particularly if there are breaks in the skin, which Barbaro did not have.
Though horses are not quite as fragile as they look with their 1,000-plus-pound bodies perched atop legs as narrow as piano legs, they are "a marvel of evolution, a marvel of nature," said Dan Rosenberg, president of Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky.
"The horse is actually standing on his middle toenails, and the amount of stress and pressure on those bones running at top speed is just enormous," Rosenberg said. "But they are creatures of fear and flight, and nature and breeding has equipped them to run that fast."
But it is more than physiology that makes a champion racehorse like Barbaro so deserving of our admiration, and the sight of jockey Edgar Prado pulling back on the still-eager 3-year-old colt was testimony to that. Prado further shielded Barbaro while still on the track so that he would not see the other horses racing down the homestretch.
"Unfortunately, one of the qualities that makes us love horses so much is their undoing," Rosenberg said. "When I'm tired, I sit down. But it's in a horse's nature to give all they have and more. I've heard it said that a horse has no choice and a human athlete does. But a horse does have a choice. You can't make a horse do anything it doesn't want to do, and a horse not so fiercely competitive as Barbaro would not keep trying to compete."
Bill Thayer, senior vice president of racing at Arlington Park, said watching Barbaro on Saturday conjured up memories of Ruffian, whose jockey, Jacinto Vasquez, kept the filly standing after she broke down in a match race with Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure in 1975 at Belmont Park.
Ruffian, like Barbaro, also tried to keep running and later underwent surgery to repair a compound fracture. But unlike Barbaro, whose doctors called a "good patient," Ruffian reinjured herself when she came out of anesthesia and was euthanized the next morning.
"It just hurts so much to see such a great horse like Barbaro, undefeated until that moment, go down like that," Thayer said. "I thought he was an absolute cinch to go on and win the first Triple Crown in 28 years. I didn't think there was a horse in America that could beat him.
"When it happened, I said, `Oh, my God, no.' Now he'll probably go on to become a daddy, but you hated to see it. Everyone was struck by it."
Barbaro's injury could end his career in both racing and as a stud. But spending tens of thousands of dollars, which Richardson estimated the price of his care could cost, is not at the heart of the matter, all agree.
"This has nothing to do with the money," Allen said. "A horse that valuable was probably insured for mortality. It would have been cheaper to euthanize the horse on the racetrack. It's more an obligation to do what's best and right for the horse."
The cards and flowers that have poured into the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals attest that Barbaro's fans agree. Hand-painted signs stating, "We Love You, Barbaro," hung outside the gates.
"There is something about our partnership and bond that has existed between human beings and horses all these centuries that gives us a real sympathy and empathy for a horse when he's imperiled," Nicholson said. "In a way, it's returned to us as well. The relationship between mankind and the horse has been one of absolute necessity. We've been partners. I think that's ingrained in us."
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misaacson@tribune.com
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
