Without a healthy leg to stand on, according to his veterinarian, KentuckyDerby champion Barbaro was euthanized Monday morning, ending a tumultuous eight-month struggle that enamored the nation since the colt broke down at last year?s Preakness Stakes.
Barbaro?s owners and doctor said it would be difficult for the 3-year-old bay horse to continue without pain.
“Our goal from the beginning was to do what was right for the horse,” veterinarian Dean Richardson said. “He would have to go through an unmanageable amount of discomfort.”
Richardson spoke at an afternoon news conference from the animal hospital at the University of Pennsylvania?s New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., where Barbaro was rushed May 20 after shattering three bones less than a furlong into the Preakness Stakes.
Fans at Baltimore?s Pimlico Race Course wept then and have since posted well-wishes on a Web site coordinated by the New Bolton Center and bought Barbaro screen prints and ball caps to support the hospital.
Barbaro?s owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, thanked fans for support and asked for their prayers.
“Grief is the price we pay for love,” Gretchen Jackson said.
Richardson emphasized the horse had “many, many good days” during Barbaro?s rocky recovery. After repairing fractured bones in his right rear foot, Barbaro developed laminitis in his left rear foot, forcing him to put weight back on his recovering right foot, Richardson said.
After inserting two steel pins into his right hind foot Sunday, Richardson said the patient recovered perfectly from anesthesia and called his attitude and appetite excellent, but cautioned the future looked grim.
Animal rights activists applauded the decision Monday.
“Barbaro was put through hell and the right decision was definitely made,” said Jackie Vergerio, a PETA spokeswoman. “His life and death will service to enlighten society to the plight of being forced to participate.”
Examiner Staff Writer Sean Welsh contributed to this report.
