PREAKNESS THEY SAID ITS
MAY 20, 2006
“First of all, he didn’t get a chance to run the race, so he is still full of
energy. So they’ve tranquilized him and settled him down in the stall, and then
you have to stabilize the limb in some fashion for transport so that he doesn’t
do additional damage to it while he’s hauled up there.”
—Dr. Larry Bramlage,
the on-call veterinarian representing the American Association of Equine
Practitioners (AAEP), on BARBARO (Dynaformer), who suffered two fractures in his
right hind ankle
“He’s still full of energy that they have to somehow deal with, that
psychological aspect of getting him under control and then taking him and making
him a good patient for surgery and the anesthesia because this surgery will take
some hours when they reconstruct him.”
—Bramlage
on the obstacles facing Barbaro’s recovery
“Horses only have two relatively small arteries to that part of the leg and
so it’s critical that the horse gets pulled up before they damage those too
badly.”
—Bramlage
“In my opinion, this had nothing to do with him breaking through the gate as
far as a cause and effect of the fracture in his leg. He wouldn’t have been able
to go around the gate, get back in and break like he did.”
—Bramlage
“Normally, the way these happen is the one above happened first. Before Edgar
(Prado) could get him pulled up, the second fracture occurred, which makes this
doubly difficult for the horse to heal everything up.”
—Bramlage
on Barbaro’s injury
“I would guess that it happened sometime out about a furlong. It took
additional 110 yards to 200 yards for Edgar to get him under control because
these don’t hurt immediately when they happen. There is so much adrenaline that
the horse has no concept. Edgar probably knew before the horse knew that
something was wrong.”
—Bramlage
“It will be two months before we know that he is going to have recovered
enough that we don’t have to worry about saving his life, and sometimes longer.
He’s got a major fracture to heal.”
—Bramlage
on how long Barbaro could take to recover
“When he went to the gate, he was feeling super and I felt like he was in the
best condition for this race. He actually tried to buck me off a couple of
times. He was feeling that good. He just touched the front of the doors of the
gate and went right through it. During the race, he took a bad step and I can’t
really tell you what happened. I heard a noise about 100 yards into the race and
pulled him right up.”
—jockey
Edgar Prado on his ride aboard Barbaro
“It’s very special for us but obviously tempered by what has happened to
Barbaro. I mean racing is a very small world and the Jacksons, Michael Matz and
his team, they’re all good friends of ours. We all work together, and we’re all
in the same business, and we know how it feels because it’s happened to all of
us before. Not such a high profile horse in such a high profile race, but it
really hurts when it happens and I just hope and pray the horse is OK.”
—Darley Racing Manager
John Ferguson on the highs and lows of BERNARDINI (A.P. Indy) winning the
Preakness S. (G1)
“We would have enjoyed it a little bit more if Barbaro was OK right now, and
I just hope he can be saved and be a fantastic stallion in the future because
that’s no more than the Jacksons and Michael Matz and everybody deserves.”
—Ferguson on Preakness
favorite Barbaro
breaking down soon after the start of the Preakness
“Well, from where we were watching, I didn’t even see it. You couldn’t see
when they broke, there was too many people in my way to see it. I saw Michael
(Matz) run by me, and I knew something was wrong and then I heard someone say
that Barbaro had pulled up.”
—Trainer
Thomas Albertrani on when he first realized that Barbaro had been pulled up
“He had great position into the first turn, and my only concern was about the
half-mile pole when Brother Derek went by him, looked like we were maybe
back-pedaling a little bit. I got a little worried for a moment. But when I saw
him come back into the picture about the five-sixteenths pole, from there on I
knew he was going to just take off.”
—Albertrani
on watching his charge, Bernardini, winning the Preakness
“When he was a two-year-old, he had some minor problems. Nothing serious,
just a bit weak. We didn’t get the opportunity to run him as a two-year-old.
When I first got him it was middle of September, and he was still a little weak,
really. He was probably ready to make his first start middle of December, but
then New York took a break for the winter. We decided to get him out of the cold
weather and send him to Florida. He didn’t make his first start until the first
week in January.”
—Albertrani
on Bernardini not making his first start until January
“Our performance was great great. Obviously he got a great trip. It looked
like he stumbled a bit coming out. He might have grabbed a quarter. I think it’s
incidental, and I don’t think it’s an excuse. It’s just a little thing we’ll
have to patch up.”
—trainer
Michael Trombetta on Preakness runner-up SWEETNORTHERNSAINT (Sweetsouthernsaint)
“Give me a little while before I say anything, I just can’t talk right now.
This is terrible (about Barbaro).”
—Trombetta
“I don’t think people realize that the first jump out of the gate, he tore
his quarter off, which is like pulling your thumb off. I am very, very proud of
the horse. I hate to see what happened to Barbaro and I certainly hope
everything is alright.”
—jockey
Kent Desormeaux on Sweetnorthernsaint grabbing his quarter
“My horse ran a great race. It setup alright for him. We got thrown around
most of the way.”
—jockey
Jeremy Rose on guiding HEMINGWAY’S KEY (Notebook) to a third-place finish in the
Preakness
“It is hard to celebrate with what happened to Barbaro. From my vantage
point, he broke down right next to me and I saw Edgar pull him up. I thought
maybe someone came over him or he might have checked but it looked bad.”
—Rose
on seeing Barbaro being pulled up
“It changed it a lot. Now you have the 1-2 favorite that will not fire. After
they break through (the gate), they have to be a real special horse to win the
race, which he probably was.”
—Rose
on how the Preakness changed with Barbaro out
“I feel really sorry for Michael (Matz) in that situation. I just feel really
bad for the other team. You don’t want to see that happen. We’ll just go back to
California and regroup.”
—trainer
Dan Hendricks on his charge BROTHER DEREK (Dynaformer), who ran fourth in the
Preakness
“We planned to follow Barbaro. I luckily swung out and went around him when
his unfortunate accident occurred.”
—jockey
Alex Solis on avoiding Barbaro when he broke down in front of Brother Derek