Barbaro Updates: 50
updates are now here.
Update 495: Lost in the Fog returns home. Excerpt:
Dr. Don Smith, the colt's veterinarian, said the Eclipse Award sprinter was his normal, aggressive self when he returned to the barn and had eaten well after his arrival.
Update 494: Steve Willard just called. He was with Giacomo as he called (about one hour after the Pacific Classic). He said it just was not his day. Giacomo is cooling out well, he looks good and is walking well.
Update 493: A nice win by Lava Man, the favourite for the Pacific Classic. He seemed to accelerate well at the 3/8ths pole and put the race away. He should be considered a top contender for the Breeders Cup Classic at this point, although they did mention they may consider a turf race next. Perfect Drift and Giacomo did not appear to really get into the race, finishing fourth and fifth. Will try to learn more later. There was also a quick clip on Barbaro, good to see it on the big screen (it was part of the Penn video clip).
A nice post on the discussion board on Dancing In My Dreams, who had faced a similar surgery to Barbaro. We noted her first foal's success in update 432.
Finally, another lovely tribute to Lost in the Fog: Tribute to a Champion.
Update 492: Another quick story to follow in the Pacific Classic. We interviewed Dan Hendricks a while ago (trainer of Brother Derek) about his thoughts on Barbaro. He noted the sad story of Cozy Guy. Well Cozy Guy's connections have Top This and That in the race! Jeannine Edwards spoke with the owners and e-mailed me:
they are extremely excited and said this is like being in the KY Derby! They are from the San Diego area and have always dreamed of running a horse at Del Mar.
Update 491: ESPN2 is broadcasting the Pacific Classic from 7 - 8 pm this evening. It will be a great race. All is go for today's big race from the Giacomo camp. I just spoke to Steve Willard (his exercise rider) who has been providing us training updates for the last few days. He is pretty upbeat. Giacomo hand walked today (walked around the shedrow). He's been cleaned up by the barn foreman (Frank), and is now relaxing in his stall as I type. He will be led over to the receiving barn about fifteen minutes ahead of the time that he will be led over to the paddock with the other runners. Steve has positive feelings for the race, everything has pretty much set up the way they want it to be. The distance of the race will suit Giacomo (a mile and a quarter) and Mike Smith (his regular jockey) will start letting him run likely at about the half mile or 3/8ths pole. Steve said it looks to be a great older horse race, with Lava Man and Perfect Drift (who Giacomo just beat in his last start at a less favourable distance for Giacomo) among the eight entries. Anyway, I want to thank Steve for giving us a little insight into the preparation of Giacomo, and wish him (and the rest of this quality field) the best of racing luck.
Jeannine Edwards provided us a great update about tonight coverage in Update 486 and Joe Deegan has also weighed in from Perfect Drift's camp (update 487).
Update 490: A little "housekeeping". Given the overwhelming response of poems, videos and other content created by everyone, I am no longer going to be able to keep up with it all in these updates and on the fan media page (this is a good thing). Fortunately the discussion board includes a folder (labeled: Barbaro Poems / Videos etc.) for such content so I hope people will continue to post their wonderful content there, and others will visit the boards to enjoy everyone's inspiring work. Melissa Harden is also collecting all the creative work at: For the love of Barbaro. Melissa will get the content from the discussion boards, and you can also e-mail Melissa your work (javaellybob@charter.net). That being said, I did want to highlight this tribute from Jessica Frank: Lost In the Fog, Champion Always.
This site has now served more than 1.5 million page views! and is currently ranked 30 in google for the keyword Barbaro. You will notice we have now signed up for the google adwords program (google ads). This will help defray costs associated with the site, and we will also allocate a portion of the earnings to a charity appropriate for this site. We will be very transparent re: the site earnings and what we do with the money. With current traffic we estimate the google ads. could generate $1,000 / month.
Update 489: Another comfortable night last night for Barbaro (saturday night). I had a nice long chat with Michael as he was ponying a horse (and Stephanie) back from the woodchip track. Dr. Richardson showed Michael the left hind foot yesterday and it appears to be doing whatever it should be doing at this stage of its "recovery". Michael also noted he walks sound (as we saw on the Barbaro grazing video) and is starting to gain some weight.
update 7:56 am, sunday morning
God Bless Barbaro. The Miracle continues ...
Posted by: Ruth Stacey at August 20, 2006 12:01 PM