Barbaro Legacy Strong a Year Later
by The Associated Press
Date Posted: January 26, 2008
Last Updated: January 28, 2008
By DAN GELSTON
AP Sports Writer
The white wooden fence once tacked with homemade signs expressing prayers and appeals to "Grow, Hoof, Grow" are bare. Only students pass through the lobby that overflowed with floral arrangements, get-well cards, and baskets stuffed with carrots and apples.
The sole visual evidence at the New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., that the large animal hospital was ever Barbaro's intensive care home for eight months is a portrait of the bay colt blazing toward the finish line in his stirring 6 1/2 -length victory in the 2006 Kentucky Derby.
It's the way Barbaro should be honored.
The breathtaking stride that swiftly covered grass or dirt and those Triple Crown dreams lofted by the widest Derby margin in 60 years are what those close to Barbaro remember now.
"Sometimes," said Gretchen Jackson, Barbaro's co-owner, "I can still see him."
If Barbaro's near-flawless career made him one of racing's greats, it was the feisty fight for his life from his horrific breakdown at the Preakness that morphed the colt into a symbol of courage, strength, and inspiration all around the world. What few might have guessed when Barbaro was rushed from Pimlico Race Course to the sprawling, 650-acre campus in Kennett Square was how he would create a legacy that perhaps not even a Triple Crown would have brought him.
So on Jan 29, one year from the day Barbaro was euthanized after complications from his gruesome breakdown, his most devoted fans will hit Internet message boards to leave notes "for Barbaro" and observe a moment of silence. Perhaps then, the Fans of Barbaro -- or, FOBs -- can also take solace and pride in all they've done in Barbaro's name for equine awareness and horse protection. Their tireless efforts might be the greatest tribute of all.
"I think it's just great that everything came out in a positive force with Barbaro, and it still continues," Jackson said. "People just did their best. He had that effect on people."
Jackson and her husband, Roy, are reminded daily how Barbaro touched everyone from the fanatical Triple Crown followers to those who paid scant attention to the sport until they heard of the colt's plight. That's one reason why the Jacksons are still carefully and respectfully considering where to bring the ashes of their beloved colt.
Barbaro's ashes remain with the Jacksons, and Gretchen Jackson said they are still trying to decide the best way to honor the Derby winner. Jackson hasn't given up the idea of a museum, but plans now likely call for his final resting place to be near a yet-to-be built statue.
"I'd like to see it where he can be visited by people who can pay respects to his remains," Gretchen Jackson said. "I think we'd like to respect that."
The Jacksons are still reviewing proposals for a statue and could decide where it will go within the next few weeks.
It could be the Kentucky Derby Museum, just a few hundred yards from the scene of his greatest triumph in the 2006 Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
"I'm one of those people where the ashes mean nothing to me compared to the memory of the horse," said Dr. Dean Richardson, chief of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center.
Outside of the Jacksons, no one was as emotionally connected with Barbaro as Richardson. Even as weeks of positive updates turned into months, it was Richardson who cautioned an optimistic public that laminitis, the often-fatal hoof disease, could cost Barbaro his life.
In the end, a series of ailments -- including laminitis in the left rear hoof, an abscess in the right rear hoof, as well as new laminitis in both front feet -- proved too much for Barbaro.
Now, additional help to battle the dire disease can be found at New Bolton thanks to the financial generosity of the Jacksons, the FOBs, and others simply wanting to help -- just another way that shows Barbaro's legacy stretched far beyond a convincing Kentucky Derby victory.
The Barbaro Fund at New Bolton has raised more than $1.3 million and counting, with the money put toward both needed expansion of the George D. Widener Large Animal Hospital and the purchase of equipment like a new operating table and recovery raft, not unlike the one used to calmly awake Barbaro from the anesthetic.
More than $2.7 million has been raised with a separate fund for laminitis research, and last year Dr. Hannah Galantino-Homer was appointed as lead investigator of the newly created laminitis research initiative.
The laminitis initiative will foster training programs and studies for new treatments of equine diseases.
"It isn't so much the amount; it's the continued interest," Richardson said of the support.
The Jacksons also created a $3 million endowment named for Richardson at the University of Pennsylvania's veterinary school to study equine diseases.
The FOBs, strangers stretched across the country with a common bond, have tried to pass legislation that would save horses from slaughter. The Barbaro devotees have raised more than $800,000 and saved more 1,950 horses from slaughter. On the 29th of each month, the date of Barbaro's death, fans are encouraged to donate $29 and the money raised goes toward New Bolton's laminitis fund.
The FOBs will present New Bolton with a check for the fund on Monday.
Saving horses from slaughter is their primary goal on
www.alexbrownracing.com.
"Every time someone comes on the (Internet) forum, we somehow manage to raise the money and get the horse," said FOB Sharon Crumb, who helped organize a Barbaro birthday celebration last April.
Crumb also started a project called "Spread the Warmth," which collects blankets and donates them to rescued horses.
And it was an FOB who told Gretchen Jackson shortly after Barbaro died that, "Grief is the price we all pay for love," -- a quote that symbolized the heartache they all felt that sorrowful day.
"I thought that it was so wonderful that I'm going to hang on to that," Jackson said. "That's how it came out of my mouth."
There's hope yet the Jacksons could still experience the same exhilaration that Barbaro brought them. The Jacksons, who have been in the business for 30-plus years, still own about 70 horses and nearly 20 are racing. Barbaro has two full brothers, a 2-year-old named Nicanor and an unnamed yearling. Nicanor trains in Florida, and the yearling is in Lexington, Ky.
Gretchen Jackson plans to visit Nicanor soon for an update on his progress.
"Nobody's going to say he's going to be a star, but he's doing everything OK," she said. "He's certainly a great horse to look at."
Jackson, who serves on the Penn Vet Board of Overseers, still makes the short drive from her farm down the road to visit New Bolton. Her daughter-in-law is a veterinarian there, so instead of stopping by to watch Barbaro gobble treats, she's "dropping off clothing for granddaughters."
Each time Jackson walks in, maybe glances at the portrait across from the check-in desk, it's impossible not to think of the gallant colt who took so many on the ride of a lifetime.
"You can be back there pretty fast," she said. "It's amazing."
