To me, Barbaro was unique in that he had a "fifth" gear that even most of the best thoroughbreds don't have. On ATRAB today, they played a medley of stretch calls from four or five of Barbaro's biggest victories. Just listening to the calls, you just had a sense that the horse had a "refuse to lose" mentality. No matter how hard he got pushed, Barbaro always found that fifth gear that was needed to beat his hard charging competitors. Challenged in the stretch in the Kentucky Derby, Barbaro poured it on in the last quarter and crushed the field by eight lengths.

It has been 29 years since Affirmed "refused to lose" to Alydar, winning the Triple Crown in the process. You just had the sense that Barbaro probably had the stuff to become the 12th Triple Crown champion. It's a shame that it all ended too soon.

He is at peace, and we are all thankful that we got to experience his brief display of greatness.