Barbaro's Struggle is Over

I was in the gym, facing a bank of televisions which I could only see, but not hear, when ESPN's Sports Center program led-off with footage of Barbaro's Kentucky Derby. I knew immediately that it could only be bad news. After a struggle lasting more than eight months, the heroic horse was unable to overcome the repeated complications and setbacks arising from a life-threatening fracture he received in the Preakness Stakes.

It is a credit to Barbaro's owners, and to the veterinary team that attended him, that they tried everything humanly possible to save him, and very nearly did, yet let him go humanely when his distress finally became acute. Both Barbaro and his connections showed tons of class in this, his final race. We all regret the loss.