As horse enthusiasts speculated on locations for beloved Kentucky Derby champion Barbaro?s final resting place, at least one influential fan wants to commemorate his courageous fight for life at the Baltimore track where he first suffered his injury. Just one day after his euthanization, fans wondered where owners Gretchen and Roy Jackson would choose to have him buried.
Officials at the Kentucky Derby Museum, located on the Churchill Downs grounds in Louisville, Ky., said Tuesday they would be “honored” if Barbaro were buried in a garden along with four other Derby winners. “We?ve expressed to them how honored we?d be to have Barbaro here,” Kentucky Derby Museum Executive Director Lynn Ashton said. “We feel like we?re bringing horses back to be honored.”
The museum grounds house the grave sites of Derby winners Sunny?s Halo (1983), Carry Back (1961), Swaps (1955) and Brokers Tip (1933).
The Jacksons have not publicly announced a decision. Other possibilities include the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington and the Jacksons? Lael Farm, just a few miles from the New Bolton Center, the University of Pennsylvania hospital where Barbaro spent the past 36 weeks.
His stay generated $1.2 million in donations to a Barbaro Fund, which has so far funded a new surgery table, raft for the recovery pool and other center equipment, New Bolton spokeswoman Jennifer Rench said.
Maryland horse trainer Ferris Allen considers the center ? where thousands of grieving fans have visited since Monday ? the most appropriate burial spot for the champion.
“I thought they pulled off miracle after miracle with him,” he said. “It was a very uphill battle from the beginning.” Meanwhile, Baltimore City Councilwoman Belinda Conaway, D-District 7, said she will introduce a resolution Feb. 12 urging the creation of a statue for Pimlico Race Course or another popular sports venue as a monument to Barbaro.
“Since he was injured here at Pimlico and he began his desperate fight for life here,” Conaway said in a statement released Tuesday, “it is fitting that this magnificent animal who won the hearts of non-racing fans with his courage should be honored here.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
