http://www.usatoday.com/sports/horses/2006-06-15-matz-stables_x.htm?csp=34
Trainers, owners hold dream of discovering another Barbaro
By Tom Pedulla, USA TODAY
ELKTON, Md. — Stall 11 in Michael Matz's barn at Fair Hill Training Center is filled again, a symbol of the need to search for another potential superstar after the loss of what was almost surely a once-in-a-lifetime horse.
The new bay-colored occupant bears a resemblance to the previous resident, Barbaro, and he should. He is a half-brother to the Kentucky Derby champion who continues to fight for his life after his racing career ended when he shattered his right hind leg in the Preakness Stakes on May 20.
Barbaro and Man In Havana are from the same dam, La Ville Rouge. But Matz and his top assistant, Peter Brette, know that may be all they have in common.
"It's very unfair for him," Brette says of the inevitable comparisons that will be made once the 2-year-old is ready to race. "If we told him who he was, he wouldn't come out of the stable in the morning."
As determined as Matz and his staff are to move on and to make the most out of the 75 horses they still have in training, they do so with the sobering belief that another Barbaro will almost surely never enter their barn again.
The colt captured the imagination of fans and non-fans alike when he dominated the Derby by 6½ lengths to extend his perfection to 6-for-6, only to suffer a catastrophic injury after a few strides in the Preakness.
"He could very well have been Seattle Slew or Secretariat," says Matz, naming two of racing's legendary Thoroughbreds. "We'll just never know and we'll never know how it happened, either."
Matz will always be convinced that nothing other than the accident could have kept Barbaro from becoming the first 3-year-old since Affirmed in 1978 to sweep the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
"I thought the horse was going to win the Triple Crown," he says without hesitation. "As easily as he won the Derby, the way he trained, I thought he was head and heels over the other horses."
To read more go to the link above. Down farther in the story it said that Matz won't accept any more horses because he wants to be "hands-on" with all of them. I wish all trainers were like that!
Thanks :~D