Kentucky Derby Report

He's got a stall with a view, a night stand with fresh flowers, and plenty of apples, carrots and peppermints to share with fellow patients in the intensive care unit at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals.

Barbaro is recovering quite nicely two weeks after shattering his right hind leg in a life-threatening, career-ending breakdown at the Preakness. But while the Kentucky Derby winner heals, he's got nowhere to run."He's a horse in a stall," says David Levine, one of three resident veterinarians assisting Dean Richardson in caring for the world's most famous equine patient. "He hangs out all day."

Barbaro is on a 24/7 watch in his 12-by-12 stall. There's a full physical every day - heart, temperature and blood checks, examination of his feet, a look at the fiberglass cast and specially designed left hind shoe, the doling out of medication and walks around his new home.

Every six hours there's an abbreviated physical, and every two hours a vet, nurse or medical student walks by to check up on Barbaro. He is groomed every morning, and even had a bath this week.

He is fed several times a day - hay and grass, primarily - and his stall is cleaned twice daily, fresh straw and wood chips only.

Not much going on, for sure.

"He looks around a lot," Levine said. "He doesn't leave the stall. This is his bed rest."

Life sure has taken a dramatic turn for Barbaro, whose romp in the Kentucky Derby on May 6 had racing fans hailing the undefeated 3-year-old colt as a Triple Crown champion in the making. Then came that horrifying day at Pimlico two weeks later, before a record crowd of 118,402 and millions more watching on TV.

Barbaro broke down a few hundred yards out of the starting gate, his injured leg flaring awkwardly as jockey Edgar Prado pulled up the colt and perhaps saved his life. The leg was placed in a temporary splint, and Barbaro was transported by horse ambulance to the University of Pennsylvania's hospital at New Bolton Center about a 90-minute drive away.

The next day, Richardson and his assistants spent more than five hours in surgery, repairing three broken bones with a metal plate and 27 screws. Barbaro's chance of survival was deemed a "coin toss" by Richardson, but every day, Barbaro's chances of recovery improve.

"He looks great, and everything is fine," Richardson said late this week.

Richardson, the chief of surgery at Penn's school of veterinary medicine at New Bolton Center, says Barbaro shows no signs of depression and appears to have the right disposition needed for the many months of inactivity that await while his bones heal.

"He's very active in the stall," Richardson said. "When a horse walks by the outside window he is peeking out trying to see who it is. If you were to look at this horse, I think an objective person would not believe this horse looks depressed."

Daily visitors include trainer Michael Matz, who lives nearby in Coatesville, Pa., his assistant Peter Brette, and owners Gretchen and Roy Jackson, who live about three miles away in West Grove, Pa. All have been pleasantly surprised by Barbaro's ability to adapt.

"He acts so healthy, so happy," Gretchen Jackson said.

Earlier this week, Prado dropped by for his first visit with Barbaro since the Preakness.

"He was very bright and very strong," Prado said. "He even wanted to get out of his stall. I'm very happy to see him acting that way."

A good attitude also plays a big role in the healing process.

"It makes a big difference, primarily in how well they rest," Richardson said. "Certain horses figure out how to take care of themselves in the stall, lie down and get up without injuring themselves. To some extent, they are like people - there's some that seem to have a more positive outlook on things.

"This horse has shown every evidence that he's that type of horse. We've had horses like that, horses that we knew made it because of their individual personality that just were unbelievably tough and horses that just held themselves together long enough to heal."

Ten of thousands of well-wishers have showered Barbaro with get-well cards, flowers and goodies. Dozens of cards and posters are on display at the front gate of the hospital, and others are hanging outside Barbaro's stall. His night stand - a two-tiered table on wheels - is full of flowers, and there are several St. Francis statues nearby.

Corinne Sweeney, the executive hospital director, visits Barbaro daily and brings along the latest gifts.

"I think the outpouring of support is beyond anyone's imagination," Sweeney said. "People have shared their own personal success, failures and tragedies in a most heartwarming way. He's touched a lot of people."

While Richardson calls the shots, Levine and fellow vets Liberty Getman and Steven Zedler share the duties of checking on Barbaro every few hours.

Levine said not many horses are able to take care of themselves the way Barbaro has.

"He's really a smart horse, and an amazing athlete," Levine said. "He has adapted very well to this situation and that's a positive thing."

Buoyed by a 109-year head start, the Kentucky Derby remains in our consciousness the clear-cut winner over the Breeders' Cup as horse racing's biggest day.

But with its $14 million payout and worldwide draw of talent, the Breeders' Cup has become a runner-up that is closing ground.

"It's almost like having seven games of the World Series on the same day," said Northern California trainer Greg Gilchrist, who has entered Lost in the Fog, his unbeaten 3-year-old colt, in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Sprint on Oct. 29 at Belmont Park in New York.

For those counting at home, the Derby doubled its purse to $2 million this year. The Breeders' Cup offers eight races with purses of $1 million or more, with the $4 million Classic being the biggest prize.

"If you are a true fan, I don't know how it could get better," said Gilchrist, whose Soviet Problem finished second in the Sprint in 1994 at Churchill Downs. "Instead of watching the Kentucky Derby on the first week of May, then waiting three weeks for Pimlico (Preakness Stakes), then another two weeks for the Belmont, you can sit there and watch the whole thing in five hours."

Whether it's golf, auto racing or tennis, ridiculous amounts of money don't always turn an event into a major.

"The Breeders' Cup (isn't) as exciting to me as the Kentucky Derby," said Northern California-based jockey Russell Baze, who has ridden in two Breeders' Cup races and one Derby. "The Derby is a huge thing, and the atmosphere is unique. The Breeders' Cup just doesn't have the mystique."

That might change for Baze this season as he has a legitimate chance to win. Baze's two Breeders' Cup horses, Lite Light in 1990 and Toccet in 2003, were long shots that finished far out of the money. On Oct. 29, Baze will be riding Lost in the Fog, who is expected to be the favorite.

"It definitely will be different for me this year," Baze said. "I'm going into the race with the horse who has a target on his back."

Several Northern California horsemen interviewed at Golden Gate Fields said the Derby still holds an edge in terms of importance over the Breeders' Cup races, but they agree the Breeders' Cup is gaining.

"I attended the first Breeders' Cup (1984) as a fan at Hollywood Park," said Fordell Fierce, a jockey's agent for Dennis Carr and a former trainer. "They had built this monstrosity of a grandstand. Our sight lines were terrible, and it seemed like they were disorganized."

Fierce returned as a participant in 1994 -- his horse Vaudeville finished seventh in the $2 million Turf-- and the Breeders' Cup had gained momentum.

"The Breeders' Cup had evolved to twice as big an event," Fierce said. "For the rest of the world, the biggest race was still the Kentucky Derby, but for a lot of horsemen who love to see all the champions, the bigger day was the Breeders' Cup."

Also sitting in the stands at the first Breeders' Cup was trainer Terry Knight, whose horse, Publication, ran fourth in the $1 million Juvenile in 2001 at Belmont Park.

"When they started the Breeders' Cup, there was nothing like the Kentucky Derby," Knight said. "To their credit, they definitely have developed the event. I have to say it is like the World Series now. But I don't know that anything will take the place of the Kentucky Derby, which is the pinnacle of our sport. I don't know that everyone knows what the Breeders' Cup is."

The Breeders' Cup, in its 22nd year, was founded by thoroughbred owner and breeder John Gaines, who died earlier this year. The idea was to develop a thoroughbred world championship that would be the richest day in sports.

"Most horsemen were hoping this would work," said Northern California trainer Jim Hilling, whose Show Dancer was second at 31-1 in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Mile in 1987 at Hollywood Park. "Our biggest worry was whether it would go over with the Europeans. At the beginning, I don't know if the Europeans had respect for the people involved (with the Breeders' Cup)."

A steady flow of Europe's top runners soon entered the Breeders' Cup events, including last year's Filly and Mare Turf winner Ouija Board, Europe's 2004 Horse of the Year. Twenty-two horses from Europe have entered this year.

Hilling said the Breeders' Cup has provided him with some special moments. After Show Dancer just missed winning the Mile in 1987, he went to a postrace party at a Pacific Palisades restaurant.

"I walked into the place with (jockey) Marco Castaneda, and everyone started clapping," Hilling said. "It was one of the best moments of my life."

In the early 1980s, Hilling said he would have called the Derby the one race he would like most to win. But now he has trouble deciding.

"The Derby, the Classic, the Arc de Triomphe," he said. "That's tough."

Northern California trainer Jeff Bonde finished fourth in the Juvenile Fillies in 1999 with Spain.

"It was absolutely the best experience I've had in racing," he said. "I had a horse in the Kentucky Oaks once, so I was there for Derby week. But to me, the Breeders' Cup is the bigger deal. You get people from all over the world, and every race is as deep as it could be."

Even so, Bonde admitted if he had only one more race to win, it would be the Kentucky Derby.

"It's just a piece of history," he said.

The Kentucky Derby is a stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred horses, staged yearly in Louisville, Kentucky on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race currently covers one and one-quarter miles (2.012 km) at Churchill Downs; colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57 kg), fillies 121 (55). The race, known as "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports" for its approximate time length, is the first leg of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in the United States. It typically draws around 155,000 fans.

Organized horse racing in the State of Kentucky dates as far back as the late 1700s when several different race courses were built in and around the city of Louisville. In 1872, Col. M. Lewis Clark, traveled to England, visiting the Epsom Derby, a famous race that had been running annually since 1780. From there, Clark went on to Paris, France, where in 1863 a group of racing enthusiasts had formed the French Jockey Club and had organized the Grand Prix de Paris, which eventually became the famous Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Returning home to Kentucky, Clark organized the Louisville Jockey Club for the purpose of raising money to build quality racing facilities just outside of the city. The track would soon become known as Churchill Downs, named for Lewis Clark's relatives, John and Henry Churchill, who had provided the land for the racetrack. Officially, the racetrack was incorporated as Churchill Downs in 1937.

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