Trying to Get My Mind Around Barbaro
The colt’s racing career is over, his crushing injury witnessed by a crowd dressed for a wedding instead of a funeral. The stunning picture of jockey Edgar Prado, standing on the racetrack, leaning into and supporting a horse that had given himself over to his rider’s care. The rest of the Preakness field was long gone and unaware.
It’s late on Monday now and the surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania, after five and a half hours of surgery, say the colt’s life is still ‘a coin toss.’ But he’s standing on the leg that suffered a shattering injury and he’s eating. The feeling is, unless something goes terribly wrong, he’ll be okay.
Terribly wrong is not always controllable. Unless something went terribly wrong, he was a strong favorite to win the Preakness and go on to a shot at the Triple Crown.
Like many of you, I spent what was left of my weekend, the Saturday night and Sunday part, with Barbaro never far from the edges of my mind. I walked my Labrador and thought about him, ate di…