MikeC:
Your humor is something else. You should get nominated for an Academy Award for it one of these days.
I'm so sorry about Barbaro but it doesn't surprise me even at this late date. That poor horse had a mountain to climb and everyone in the business knew it might take him a long long time to get there. He ran out of luck in his recovery. What happened to him today was predicted right from the git-go. I cannot believe his otherworldly vet managed to get him this far.
I've been watching that type of thoroughbred for years and spent a lot of time at one of the best farms in Kentucky and I never heard of a Stakes horse going through the gate like that. As I recall no one really had. How could anyone have known but in retrospect I guess the trainer even if he was in the stands probably should've just stood up and hollered "Take him off the track---do not put him back in the gate". But who the hell would have the wherewithal to actually do that in the Triple Crown series?