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(AP) — He still looks every bit the champion. Only the fiberglass casts on not one but both of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro’s hind legs are indicators of something terribly wrong.
“His ears are up, he’s bright, he’s looking around,” Dr. Dean Richardson said Thursday. “If you look at this horse, it’d be hard to put him down.”
That precisely is the heartbreaking task that could be imminent because of a hoof disease so serious Richardson said the champion horse is “a long shot” to survive.
“It could happen within 24 hours,” Richardson said during a news conference at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center.
Richardson said Barbaro has a severe case of laminitis in his left hind leg — a painful, often fatal disease caused by uneven weight distribution in the limbs.
Barbaro is being treated aggressively with pain medication and remains in the same stall he’s been in since being brought to the intensive care unit at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals.
Until his misstep at the Preakness Stakes, Barbaro’s career was nothing short of brilliant.
He won his first five starts, including the Florida Derby. His 6 1-2-length victory at the Derby was so convincing he was being hailed as the next likely Triple Crown champion — and first since Affirmed since 1978.
Edgar Prado, the jockey credited with saving Barbaro by quickly pulling him up in the Preakness, was devastated by the grim prognosis.
“All we can do now is hope and pray. We’ll need a miracle, but maybe it will happen.”
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