The effort to save his life was the story. If Barbaro was euthanized on the track afer the Preakness, nothing would have happened. It was the fact that the effort was made to save him and he lived 8 plus months afterward which made the story. The Jacksons and Richardson aren't on Larry King if he's euthanized immediately. Noone here would have heard of Richardson if not for the effort (well some would have, but certainly not me). Horses win the Kentucky Derby every year...it is not a big deal. But when the Ky Derby winner has a devastating injury in the Preakness...is not put down but is given highly risky surgery...survives...does pretty well for 8 months, then finally succumbs to the overwhelming odds against him, well that is a bit different than your average Ky Derby winner story. That type of thing makes national news. That is all it is. I have no problem with them showing it. In a week, it will all be old news once again and not be shown on national media outlets probably again other than a yearly tribute to the horse on BC day or something.

All it will take is one owner to decide that, after winning the Kentucky Derby, it's not wise to run in the Preakness. Just skip it. The gates, the dirt, the triple crown timing, all worked against Barbaro. That's a big part of the Barbaro story too.

Exactly. His winning the Derby is NOT the Barbaro story to most people. What happened after IS.

apparently you missed the fact that dean richardson, as well as the track vet and everyone else said the horse was FINE after the gate incident, and that one had nothing to do with the other.

but hey, i guess if i'm a moron, i'm in good company with them.

from bloodhorse:
"The stewards always ask me to look at them (when they break through the gate)," said Zipf, a state veterinarian since 1965 and chief veterinarian for the last 20 years.

"I went through the stall he(barbaro) was in and followed him back around. Once he was gathered up (by an outrider) and turned around, the first thing I looked for was head trauma or abrasions or cuts. I then walked behind him as he trotted back to make sure, leg-wise that there was no problem. I could see nothing that would insult his performance; saw no problems with his head or legs. I'm certain there was nothing that would predispose to the injury that occurred in the race."

and this:

Bramlage does not believe the injury occurred when Barbaro broke through the starting gate. "I watched him break through the first time and I watched him break the second time," Bramlage said. "He didn't break with the right hind injury. I would guess that it happened sometime out about a furlong. It took an additional 110 yards to 200 yards for Edgar to get him under control because these don't hurt immediately when they happen. There is so much adrenaline that the horse has no concept. Edgar probably knew before the horse knew that something was wrong. I don't think breaking through the gate the first time had anything to do with this."

from prado:"During the race, he took a bad step and I can't really tell you what happened. I heard a noise about 100 yards into the race and pulled him right up."

this from dr richardson:

Richardson continued to try to put to rest nagging questions about whether Barbaro was injured when he prematurely broke from the Preakness starting gate and had to be reloaded for the race to begin.

"I think it is exceedingly unlikely the horse injured himself breaking from the gate," Richardson said. "The horse jogged back to the gate and broke out of the gate well. This is a single catastrophic accident."

:D yeah, i know.

you might want to re-read the post above--for example:



I'm certain there was nothing that would predispose to the injury that occurred in the race."

and of course, you can choose to believe that pigs fly, and aliens are among us--but please, when top vets in the equine field believe it, maybe you should lay off the 'moron' talk.

Deb,

I think it was a lousy coincidence that he broke through the gate and trust the vets when they say his injury had nothing to do with it, but if he would have been my horse, I would have scratched him. JMO.

i agree, it was a lousy coincidence.

I think the gate incident may have cause the initial injury to Barbaro. I don't know that it did but he was rushed back into that gate. He should have been scratched but hind sight is 20-20.

Please point out the English language.