BARBARO UPDATE: News conference scheduled for 11

Here's the thing -- the Jacksons are in a damned if they do/damned if they don't situation.

If they continue medical treatment, people are going to say they did it just for the stud fees.

If they don't, people are going to say why did they put him through all this -- or why didn't they let the treatment run its course.

If this was a person, there would be no discussion. You'd work to save them -- unless the person had a DNR.

I believe there's more than just a financial attachment to the horse. There has to be an emotional one as well, or at least I hope there is.

 

Doesn't the fact that his leg broke indicate - well - a genetic flaw? Why is he such a prized stud horse?

 

Not really. He may have just taken a bad step or landed in a depression on the track. Doesn't mean his bones are brittle.

 

He will never stand at stud. The connections already knew that the day he went down at Pimlico. More likely they're just trying to keep the sport's rep from circling the drain for the final time.

 

The truth is, if there will be no stud career, that he's probably worth more dead at this point -- they can collect on the insurance. So it's hard to question the owners' motives here in trying to save the horse.

 

The Jacksons are filthy rich anyway. They don't give a damn about the stud fees. That money means about as much to them as the change floating around inside my couch means to me.

 

He may not be worth much as a stud, if he even has a stud career. But there are plenty of people who would love to come and see a Kentucky Derby champion.

 

I honestly think that they're preparing us for the worst.

 

I'm not a horse expert, but laminitis is what Secretariat was put down for, at an aged-but-not-ancient age of 19.

 

Pretty much.

 

Of course stud fees are a factor, but I think the owners deserve the benefit of any doubt here. I really think they are doing because people like my 11-year-old daughter care about it. If they didn't, they probably could have euthanized the horse earlier. I also think that the extraordinary efforts to save Barbaro might help in future care and treatment of horses.

 

Didn't his hoof come down on the hoof of another horse?