Barbaro, Funfare and Edgar Prado

Ever since Saturday afternoon's Preakness stakes, I've been worrying and hoping for Barbaro's recovery (and periodically crying like a little baby). Seeing him break down as he did, after breaking through the starting gates early and having to restart the race, was sickening and sad. He's clearly a great colt, and everyone says (and I believe) that he has Edgar Prado to thank, in part, for saving his life. Prado (along with several track officials) was able to pull Barbaro up quickly, and keep him from exascerbating his broken ankle.

You've gotta respect jockeys like Prado. The regulation weight that a horse carries in the triple crown races is 126 pounds. That includes jockey *and* tack. And the average thoroughbred weighs something like 1,300 pounds (plus or minus a couple hundred). That horse is (on average) about 16 hands tall at the withers (that's 64 inches or so). The average jockey is about 61-63 inches tall. In a race like the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness, the horse will run nearly 40 miles per hour - in a big whomping group of similarly gigantoid animals. Each with a teensy jocky perched tenuously on his back. And in the triple crown, these horses are 3 year olds (like, 11 year old kids), they're mostly colts (on their way to becoming stallions), they've only probably been ridden since they were 2, and they're apt to become very silly at unpredictable moments. It just has to take such tremendous courage to do that for a living. And to be the guy who's responsible for pulling the horse up and stopping him when he's hurt himself.

Chris Antley did that for Charismatic in the Belmont stakes a few years ago - I remember him standing just past the finish (Charismatic injured a front foot during the home stretch. He'd won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, and looked like he was going to with the Triple Crown), holding Charismatic's foot up under him, crying. The injury to Charismatic was career-ending, but not life-ending.

In watching the Preakness this year, I also remembered a similar sickening feeling from just a few months before. In the 2005 Breeder's Cup mile, a 6 year old colt named Funfare broke down. His jockey was thrown, and Funfare attempted to catch up with the rest of the field - thus causing irreparable harm to his broken front cannon bone. Funfare was euthanized within hours of that race. That was in October. The jockey was Edgar Prado.

Prado tried to save Funfare, but couldn't. He may have saved Barbaro - everybody hopes so. But no matter what, it's been a horrible year for Edgar Prado. I can't even imagine what he must be going through (though apparently he's already back and riding). Get well soon, Barbaro. Rest in Peace, Funfare.