Barbaro Update...
 

I'm not sure if anyone has seen this or not, but Pimlico officials are now saying that they are 80% certain that Barbaro's injury was caused by being hit in the right hind by Brother Derek.

http://www.ntra.com/content.aspx?type=news&id=18112

Pimlico is saying anything to avoid criticism. They don't want track surface or starting gate to be an issue so they say it was another horse. I don't buy it. The most likely thing is it was just a bad step.

Thanks for posting the link, Caj. Interesting article. Who knows? An awful accident either way.

My question about the theory-- is it possible for a horse to whack another horse hard enough to break a bone and not leave a mark? They said the skin wasn't broken in the accident (one of the few things that went in Barbaro's favor). I'm surprised getting kicked by another horse would not abrade the skin at all. Caj, I know you know a lot more about horses than I do-- is that possible? Probable?

I would say it's possible, but definitely not probable. I think what probably happened (if Derek interfered at all) was that Derek may have knocked him off balance and he then took a bad step. Normally when a horse is kicked, it leaves a mark (especially on the lower leg.)

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He looked good on ESPN this morning with Prado. I read on another site that the Jackson's had a filly name Nice Nelly (Seattle Slews last crop) break her leg on Sunday when working out alongside Showing Up on the turf. Tough luck for the Jacksons, but the horses seem to be ok so far.

Pimlico has a really good racing surface. Barbaro was the first one to break down on that track this meet. I know this because of a discussion from another message board. Pimlico is doing something right, and I believe that other tracks should look to this surface instead of polytrack to see what they can do to prevent breakdowns. I agree with you in that it was probably just a bad step although I do feel that tracks should scratch the horse when they prematurely break through the starting gate. Also, Barbaro could have had an undetected injury going into the race. You never know. Things like hairline fractures and other injuries are sometimes very, very hard to detect. You know your stuff. I have read a lot of your posts, and I thoroughly enjoy them.

Considering the quality of the average horse running at Pimlico on non stakes days, it's pretty amazing that they've had so few breakdowns in general. I deifnitely agree with this assessment.

i find it very hard to believe that another horse could possibly shatter the bone of another horses hind leg by stepping on it...if anything i would think that it would just be a huge gash then...but i don't recall seeing any photos showing any blood of some sort coming from barbaro's hind leg...you would think that if brother derek did hit his hind leg there would be a gash of some sort

It would have probably been a gash or some surface wound, but a horse hitting or stepping on another horse while both are running top speed can definitely, definitely cause broken bones. First, Barbaro suffered a condylar fracture of the cannon bone. Then, due to stress on the leg because Barbaro kept wanting to run, the sesamoid and the long pastern bone started to give. I do doubt that BD hit Barbaro, but it is faintly possible.