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Barbaro made it through surgery. Ruffian didn't.
At this point, we're never going to know if he really was as great as that Derby indicated. (I haven't seen a horse run like that since.... Affirmed, or maybe before.) But maybe his sons and daughters will preserve some of that unrealized greatness.
This is what I wrote elsewhere after the Derby:
I saw the Derby. Unlike other years, I haven't been following the pre-Derby races -- and the papers haven't been providing much coverage. Heading to the post, the commentators mentioned that it was a strong field with several unbeatens in it.
Barbaro won. By seven lengths, going away. After sitting just off the leaders who were running quite a fast pace.
There were a lot of horses -- twenty --this year: the Derby is crowded. And some of those were presumably not really Derby caliber, and perhaps caused other, better, horses some problems.
But I don't think any horse in that field could have caught Barbaro. Had this been the Belmont, the margin of victory would have been larger -- he looked to be just warming up.
It's too soon to anoint the horse a superstar, but damn, what a performance.
I like him even more because he's *not* a pretty horse. His neck looks sort of scrawny, his head is not aristocratic but sort of chunky-looking. Then again, as people who've read the book or seen the movie know, Seabiscuit wasn't a pretty horse, either.
Wow. I really hope he's as good as he seemed on Saturday.
At this point, we're never going to know if he really was as great as that Derby indicated. (I haven't seen a horse run like that since.... Affirmed, or maybe before.) But maybe his sons and daughters will preserve some of that unrealized greatness.
This is what I wrote elsewhere after the Derby:
I saw the Derby. Unlike other years, I haven't been following the pre-Derby races -- and the papers haven't been providing much coverage. Heading to the post, the commentators mentioned that it was a strong field with several unbeatens in it.
Barbaro won. By seven lengths, going away. After sitting just off the leaders who were running quite a fast pace.
There were a lot of horses -- twenty --this year: the Derby is crowded. And some of those were presumably not really Derby caliber, and perhaps caused other, better, horses some problems.
But I don't think any horse in that field could have caught Barbaro. Had this been the Belmont, the margin of victory would have been larger -- he looked to be just warming up.
It's too soon to anoint the horse a superstar, but damn, what a performance.
I like him even more because he's *not* a pretty horse. His neck looks sort of scrawny, his head is not aristocratic but sort of chunky-looking. Then again, as people who've read the book or seen the movie know, Seabiscuit wasn't a pretty horse, either.
Wow. I really hope he's as good as he seemed on Saturday.