Barbaro

I've been thinking good thoughts for Barbaro and am happy to hear that he's doing well. Evidently he's even acting like himself, which is a good sign, although it doesn't mean he'll heal. It does remind me what wonderful and fragile animals horses are, elegant, noble and brave. Not that they are the only ones. Back in my NJ days, a client rushed Romeo, his white Bull Terrier, into the hospital, the dog having just leapt off a second floor balcony to land on the curb below. Someone thought it was funny to stand on the sidewalk and do the Shakespeare bit, until the dog came flying over the railing. Poor Romeo was badly bruised and probably had a couple cracked ribs at least, but for that first exam he stood like a statue. Not a whimper, not a twitch - he looked straight ahead and was a rock about the whole thing. Another time a woman called about a kitten she had picked up off the side of the road. When it came in, it had one eyeball sitting at the top of its cheek. But again, no crying. In fact, she purred through the worst of it. I don't know that they knew we were trying to help, but both animals were more stoic than any person I have ever known.

btw, I ended up keeping the kitten, who turned out to be an excellent mouser.

I had picked Bernardini to finish second behind Barbaro, so I was glad to see him win. Actually, I had three of the top four finishers. Sweetnorthernsaint finished second (I picked him for third), Hemingway's Key was third, followed by Brother Derek, who finished right where I guessed he would. I should have known Hemingway's Key would be in the money! I felt bad for the Bernardini people; good as it is to win, it must be hard to win under these circumstances.