Sparkle in Barbaro's eye makes hearts skip a beat

Posted on Mon, Jul. 17, 2006

"The Philadelphia Inquirer"
By Mike Jensen Inquirer Staff Writer

graphic by: Cybergifs.com

Exercise rider Peter Brette has seen the horse up and seen him down. Yesterday, there was some optimism.

By Mike JensenInquirer Staff WriterOn his day off, Peter Brette drove the now-familiar 30-minute route from his home to Barbaro's stall yesterday morning.

Before this ritual began, Brette was on the back of Barbaro every morning as the Kentucky Derby winner's exercise rider and assistant trainer to Michael Matz. Now, every other day, Brette goes to the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center to see the horse.

"He was bright, he was alert, and he sort of - he's always had a bit of a sparkle in his eye," Brette said yesterday morning. "Last week when I went to see him, he didn't. He was obviously very tired, and we were all very worried last week. We're still very worried, but it's very good for me to go in and see him like this."

The week, Brette said, has been an exhausting emotional roller-coaster for everyone closely involved with the horse.

"It started last Sunday," the Englishman said over a cup of coffee down the road from the New Bolton Center in Kennett Square. "I went over Monday, and I didn't think he'd make the day out. He was under heavy sedation. It was the worst point probably I'd seen him. He looked as though he was beaten, basically.

"I spoke to Michael [Matz], I said, 'If it was me, I think I'd put him down.' And then Michael went two hours later, and he called me and said, 'You can't believe him. He's bright-eyed.'... [maybe] it was the drug that had just knocked him out a bit."

At that point, an infection in Barbaro's injured right hind leg was the major problem. By midweek, laminitis had set in, in his left hind leg. That situation has been even more dire, and Barbaro still is considered a long shot to survive. Brette figured it's gone from 70 percent to 10 percent in the last couple of weeks.

"Michael said it best: He was so sure he was going to win the Triple Crown," said Brette, a former champion jockey in Dubai. "I think we all did, to be honest. When he broke his leg, Michael was absolutely so sure he'd recover, and then last week he was so sure he was going to die. That's just in a week."

Brette has watched the footage of the Preakness Stakes only once, the day after the race, he said. When Barbaro's breakdown in the first furlong is shown on television, he turns his head.

"Unfortunately, they keep showing it now on the news," Brette said. "I find - and a lot of people must find - it distressing. Why can't they show him winning the Kentucky Derby?"

During recent better weeks, Brette and Matz reminisced about a lot, such as the training session early this year in Florida, how Barbaro switched gears.

"He was galloping around one day and someone comes by, and he went to take off on me," Brette said. "It was like, if you've ever driven a Porsche and put your foot down, and it bumps you right up... . That's what he did. I said, 'Good God, he's getting stronger and stronger.' "

And then there was Barbaro's breeze the weekend before the Kentucky Derby that was the talk of Churchill Downs.

"He went down the straight in three strides," Brette said. "I pulled up and said to Michael, 'This will win the Derby.' Then his phone just started to ring nonstop. Before he got off the track, he got six phone calls. There was one guy that came over, a guy that sits in the stands. All he does is he looks at horses and clocks horses. He told Michael, 'That was the best horse to breeze at Churchill Downs for at least five years.' "

Recent days have been tougher, of course. Once it was decided to fight the laminitis, owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson left late last week for a trip to Africa. They are in daily communication. There is a kind of phone chain of information passed along each day, Brette said, among the regular visitors. Brette - who always has called the horse "Bobby," after his own 21/2-year-old son - knows what long odds are all about, but he also knows that Barbaro hasn't quit on himself.

"The other day, they took him off the sling for a couple of hours," Brette said. "He was obviously getting a little uncomfortable. He got up and walked over toward the sling, as if he wanted to say,'Put me in that thing.' They put him in the sling, and he washappy again."

For the man who was on Barbaro's back more than anybody, a chance to go in and tickle the horse behind his left ear already had confirmed yesterday's positive medical update.

"Once you see him as he is, it just puts the Preakness a little further in the back of your mind," Brette said.

Contact staff writer Mike Jensen at 215-854-4489 or mjensen@phillynews.com.