Barbaro was born on April 29, 2003. He had a difficult birth, as his mother, La Ville Rogue, was an average-sized Thoroughbred mare, and he was very large. Two men each tugged on one foreleg; after that, he was fine. His mother accepted him as her own.
The colt was bay. His sire was Dynaformer, who was linked to the great Smarty Jones. He was very mild-mannered, and loved being rubbed and having attention.
In 2005, the colt was given to trainer Michael Matz. Matz had before been a very successful show-horse trainer, and then had recently switched to training Thoroughbreds. He had won many awards and over one million.
The colt was ridden by Edgar S. Prado, whose hometown was Lima, Peru. His father was a trainer, and two of his eight brothers were also jockeys.
Late in 2005, on October 4, the colt was raced in a Maiden race over one mile on turf. He easily won it. Then he was raced in the Laurel Futurity on November 19. Again he was first.
The colt did not appear again until January 1st, when he turned three (in horseracing, every Thoroughbred has his or her birthday on January 1st, not their original birthdate). He won this race, too.
On February 4, 2006, Barbaro was raced in the Holy Bull Stakes, which was on dirt. The track was sloppy, but Barbaro proved that he could run on anything, and won. It also convinced Matz that he ran better on dirt than turf. So on April 1st, 2006, Barbaro was raced in the Florida Derby, a pretty major race. It would prepare him for the Kentucky Derby.
Barbaro won this race, beating Sharp Humor after battling with him nose-to-nose for awhile. So Barbaro was taken to the Derby, where he was the second favorite at 6-1. He was undefeated, and went off in a field of twenty.
The took off, and Barbaro stumbled coming out of the gate. Despite the mishap, Barbaro went on to win the Derby by six lengths, the biggest margin since Assault won the Derby in 1946. Everyone thought for sure that this extraordinary horse would sweep the Triple Crown.
But it wasn't to be.
In the Preakness Stakes two weeks later, the starters took a lot of time loading the horses. Barbaro was excited, and in his excitement, he burst from the gate. The reloaded him, and away they went!
They were coming on the first turn when suddenly Barbaro began to pull up! Everyone stared in disbelief as the favorite stopped and limped around, favoring his right hind leg. The equine ambulance drove up and loaded the injured horse.
Barbaro was good about it. He obeyed what they wanted him to do. When he got to the hospital, they operated on him.
Barbaro woke up to find his leg doing great. Everyone had high hopes. During his time recuperating, Barbaro was sent over 20,000 get well cards! He was doing great, and his leg was healing up very nicely. He even went outdoors and grazed for a little.
Then, suddenly, Barbaro developed laminitis in his left hind leg. Laminitis is a serious disease of the hoof, often ending in the horse's death. Barbaro was treated for it, but the hoof disease just got worse and worse.
After talking it over with Barbaro's owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, they finally decided to put Barbaro out of his pain and misery. On January 29, 2007, three months before his (actual) fourth birthday, Barbaro was euthanized.
0 comments:
Post a Comment