YW!
Some new "Barbaro Bits" ....
New Bolton director cautions against Barbaro complacency
Originally published June 26, 2006
While Dr. Corinne Sweeney, the director of the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center, said Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro had another good day yesterday, she also cautioned about complacency.
Barbaro is at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals in Kennett Square, Pa., recovering from a broken rear right leg he suffered in the Preakness. Sweeney said that while every good day puts the horse further from infection and the possibility of laminitis, "it is a misconception to think the potential for complications has been eliminated."
Sweeney said that while the prospect of infection drops dramatically the further down the road Barbaro gets, laminitis, an infection that can occur in Barbaro's left foot due to overuse, "is always a concern."
Though it, too, lessens every day, it doesn't totally go away until Barbaro is back, solidly on all fours.
"His whole good health and the way he's bearing his weight is encouraging," she said. "But hearing good news about him every day can give the impression that nothing more can go wrong, and that's not the case."
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From a Stockton, CA, story about the poor turnout at their county fair ... maybe it was just too dang hot for all but the most ardent of racing fans, like the woman who wore a "Barbaro for President" T-shirt, to venture out.
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Sports Digest
Originally published Jun 25, 2006
Horse racing
• Barbaro // Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was swamped with visitors yesterday morning, as his doctor, Dean Richardson, his owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, and Dr. Corinne Sweeney, director of the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center, where Barbaro is recovering from the broken leg he suffered in the Preakness, all crossed paths heading in and out of the intensive care unit at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals near Kennett Square.
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[Part of a story from the UK]
Few people know of this on our side of the Atlantic, but just over a month ago, when Barbaro broke a leg during the Preakness Stakes, millions of American viewers were able to watch the drama unfolding as one of the big three TV companies, NBC, were showing the race - and decided to go with the reality of the horse's injury.
NBC had done a huge marketing job for Barbaro's race, as captivated as everyone by the brilliance of the Kentucky Derby winner. So when it all went wrong at Baltimore's Pimlico track, and Barbaro was horribly injured with the broken limb flailing about, NBC decided to follow events properly as a major news story. They even included helicopter shots of the horse ambulance leaving the track and heading for the University of Pennsylvania's veterinary centre.
Far from nauseating the audience, NBC's coverage elicited massive sympathy. Significantly, most viewers who had watched the race stayed with the unfolding drama, as enthralled as most of the 118,000 crowd inside Pimlico at the vets' valiant efforts to save the animal. And a happy ending ensued. Barbaro seems to have made an amazing recovery and his life is no longer in danger, but he will not race again and must be satisfied only with a life at stud. I am not advocating that horse injuries should be used as a means of boosting a channel's ratings, for it is not necessary.
The fact is that Barbaro's brilliance had already attracted a bigger-than-usual audience for the second act of the US Triple Crown. Had he stayed fit and gone on to lift the Belmont Stakes and thus secure the crown, Barbaro might have attracted even more hype than he did by suffering injury.
What the Preakness showed was that America has a huge latent audience for horse racing, and I believe that to be the case for Britain.
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Originally published Jun 24, 2006
Horse racing
Barbaro's feedbag goes a long way
Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro had another good day in his recovery yesterday at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center in Kennett Square. Gifts arrive every day for the horse, and many of them are edible: bushels of apples, bunches of carrots, large bags of mints in many sizes and shapes.
The foodstuff is being devoured by the horse, but he can't eat it all, and so it's being shared with other horses in the intensive care unit and with his old stablemates back at the Fair Hill Training Center.
Dr. Corinne Sweeney, director of the New Bolton Center, said she also encourages staff members who are caring for the horse to help themselves to the apples. "You know the old saying," she said. "An apple a day ... We're trying to keep everyone healthy."
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Posted: 6/23/2006 3:45:09 PM
Barbaro wearing new cast well; remains 'grand patient'
Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro has adjusted well to his new fiberglass cast and continues to be comfortable as he recovers from surgery to repair a shattered right hind ankle at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center.
"That's the absolute good news, because you don't know. Every cast is put on with the idea that it will be a perfect fit, but time tells and he's wearing this one very well," George D. Widener Hospital Executive Director Corinne Sweeney, D.V.M., said Friday.
"The fiberglass cast is a light type of cast. This cast is the same type of cast that was put on him right after surgery, it's just a replacement. It's not any different; it's just a new one."
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Nearly five weeks after major surgery, Sweeney said he does not appear too far removed from his racing career.
"He is a grand patient, he's all boy," Sweeney said. "He acts like, `Give me a chance to run, I'm ready to go.' He acts he's ready to go back to doing what he was doing. When you open the door to bring him out for his bath, he's like, 'OK, let's go.'
"He has a cast on his leg so he has to walk like he has a cast on his leg, but other than that he moves around just like you or I would walk if we were pretending we were stiff in the ankle," Sweeney continued. "He bears full weight on it and he still does his little romps in the stall, so it hasn't affected his style."
Barbaro, a homebred of Roy and Gretchen Jackson's Lael Farm, has been an ideal patient and accepted his new life confined to a stall with charisma.
"There's nothing mopey about him," Sweeney said. "He has adjusted to his current plight in life, probably with the same style that he adjusted to knowing that he was supposed to go out there and run races. He's maintaining his weight, if not putting on a little bit. He's not moping around, and that's important for any patient that has a long-term hospitalization. If a positive attitude has any effect on outcome, he's certainly got that positive attitude."
Nurses in the Intensive Care Unit at the New Bolton Center have helped Barbaro occupy his time with a variety of games in the stall, one of which he is particularly adept.
"To amuse him, besides feeding him some snacks, some of the nurses on the ward line peppermints up on the edge [of his stall], and he's gotten very clever at being able to get to each one between the bars before they fall off the edge," Sweeney said. "Any patient that is there for an extended period of time, all of the staff here forms a good relationship with. He's now been a resident of the hospital for almost five weeks, and he certainly has endeared himself."—Mike Curry
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Further info on the Breyer model Barbaro
Business
Barbaro becomes a model
MARCELLA PEYRE-FERRY, Special to the Local News06/23/2006
By fall, horse lovers will be able to add a model ofBarbaro to their collections and the New Bolton center will receive a contribution for each one sold.
Ten dollars from the sale of each model will be donated to The Barbaro Fund to benefit The University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine’s New Bolton Center.
Breyer Animal Creations, a division of Reeves International of Pequannock, N.J., has been making model horses for nearly 60 years. Breyer models and accessories are sold worldwide to horse lovers at toy stores, equestrian shops, and online.
Each year, Breyer adds new horses to their line, with a selection of famous race horses new to the selection this year. With his convincing win in the Kentucky Derby and his rapidly growing popularity, Barbaro would have probably become a model in the Breyer line in due course. After Barbaro’s life-threatening injury in the Preakness, requests started coming in for a portrait model of Barbaro and the firm went into action in time to announce the upcoming release in time for the Belmont Stakes.
"After the Preakness, we were inundated with mail asking us to make a model of Barbaro and I realized Breyer could both honor a great champion and do some good on behalf of Barbaro for all the thousands of horses who rely on New Bolton when they are hurt.We were honored when his owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson, agreed," said Anthony Fleischmann, president of Reeves International Inc.
"We are so grateful to Dr. Dean Richardson and the entire team at New Bolton that we were very pleased to allow Breyer to create a model of Barbaro that would help raise funds for the hospital.Barbaro has provided so much hope to so many, that it seems right that he can help others," Gretchen Jackson said.
Donating a portion of a model’s proceeds to a related charity is not new for Breyer.There have been a range of equine charities that have benefited from promotions such as this over the years, including a current connection with Pegasus Therapeutic Riding.
"I’ve been with Breyer 13 years. In that time we have raised $500,000 to $600,000. Breyer is very philanthropic to kids and horses," said Stephanie Macejko of Breyer. "We’re hoping that our contribution could help treat horses with these types of injuries."
This is not the first time that a horse with a Chester County connection has become a part of the Breyer model line. Thoroughbred race horses Smarty Jones and Afleet Alex are currently available as part of the Breyer line, along with Friesian stallion Goffert 369, owned by Iron Spring Farm of Coatesville.
Barbaro’s trainer, Michael Matz, also has a prior connection to Breyer, which made a model of his Olympic show jumper Jet Run in the 1980s.
Orders for the Barbaro model are being taken online, but he may also be available through local Breyer dealers. When the Smarty Jones model was about to be released, local retailer Oxford Feed and Lumber took pre-orders for the model to be sure they would have enough for their customers.
"Collectors love the local horses," Diane Drennen, of Oxford Feed and Lumber, said.
When there is a local connection with a Breyer horse, Drennen knows to expect a bigger demand and orders more of that mold. This year, Oxford Feed and Lumber had a booth at the Wilowdale steeplechases, and raffled off an autographed model of Afleet Alex as a promotion for the day.
Already, Drennen has had inquiries about Barbaro items. "People are even asking for Barbaro hats, it’s Barbaro anything," she said.
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Breyer's Barbaro model, which begins shipping to stores Oct. 1, will be sold for $45 with $10 from each sale donated to The Barbaro Fund to benefit the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine's New Bolton Center. Each horse will include a certificate of authenticity signed by trainer Michael Matz and Prado and the story of the colt's career.
http://www.breyerhorses.com
P.S. I'll clean out the ping list as soon as I get some time.