It was odd that once Barbaro's leg broke, horse racing's yearly allotted time on horse racing was devoted to a broken bone.
It's been a few months, but let's play word association. "Barbaro."…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Barbaro Trots Back Into Obscurity - Comments Page 2
Article comments
26 - Jeanette Cavalier
To Mr. Thinks he can write: You have really stepped out-of-bounds with this article... Barbaro happens to be a "Champion" that thousands of people all over the world are concerned about. We will continue to follow Barbaro's recovery no matter what you may say or try to say that is so critical of such a beautiful horse. By the way, the Wizard of Oz is looking for you.........he has a "brain" and "heart" to give you.
27 - Suzanne Hewitt
Hey there "sportswriter". I guess you think you know a lot about horseracing? You are an idiot and have used a horse's injury for your own gain. We don't have to forget about Barbaro to appreciate Showing Up, Jazil, Deap Impact, or Noble Stella. Heard of the last two horses?
Why don't you use your blogspace to urge people to end horse slaughter (H.R. 503 to be voted on by June 30th, call your reps people and vote to ban it permanently). But you wouldn't do a thing like that; seeing as all you give a rip about is yourself. This is the most idiotic "article" I have seen in a while.
There is a place where people like you trot into. It is indeed called Obscurity. A place where Barbaro will never traverse.
-suzanne
28 - Kate
This answer section has in bold letters, PERSONAL ATTACKS ARE NOT ALLOWED. But apparently publishing an article attacking a poor horse who is fighting for his life is OK? Tell me Mr...hmmm I can't remember your name....we'll just call you Mr Obscurity, what have you accomplished in your lifetime, beside this lame attempt at witty journalism.
29 - Jill
Well, if your intent was to anger thousands of people then you've succeeded, but not without leaving a very insensitive, unimformed, unpleasant and mean spirited impression of yourself. You are certainly a lost soul. Wonder what Babaro would see if he looked in your eyes.
30 - Juliet
I can only imagine that in the lack of any lime light shed on this individual, there is a shot taken at an amazing horse and an amazing story. You really don't have any clue about the collective response that has gathered around Barbaro, nor do you have any clue that every day he is walking and thriving - it is a miracle. It's pretty sad the way that you go about creating attention for yourself. Negative attention is better than none at all - right?
I pray for Barbaro every day, and as a horse lover and owner, will continue to do so until he is thriving and living a pain free life....
31 - JoAnne
** My hand is up and Im waiving it!!
People, stop responding to this jerk. He is neither sensitive, nor a writer. Maybe a career in pathology would serve you better, and leave the sports writing to folks who can write and have blood flowing through their veins.
Go to Gool School, buddy!
32 - Mary Simpson
The news media have always responded to what is violent and GRABS the headlines to sell papers. There is more to life than such superficial action news. Lovers of Barbaro and followers of the Jackson's will remain. We all search for updates every single day. If the main news media don't carry Barbaro's progress, we will find it elsewhere. '"We have greater depth of interest and concern than the average news reader.
33 - trs
Has anyone else thought that one reason why Barbaro's owner has spent scads of money on his horse is to save his investment? Can you say "STUD"?
34 - Walley
Those of us in the horse world find your article extremely offensive. If you had the slightest idea of what goes into developing an animal of Barbaro's caliber you would have looked at this misfortune in a much different light. For over five years thoes who produced this remarkable anamal have spent much time and effort to get him to the Derby. Several months of studying the blood lines prior to the breeding, eleven months of gestation, and after the foal is born the intense care to make sure that it is healthy and thriving. After the birth no one careing for the dam and foal can make a mistake. One mistake by anyone connectet to the animal can ruin the animal for life. After the weaning the foal has to be looked over like one would hope a parent would look over their child. If the stable boy, the vet, the farrier or the trainer screws up all is lost. It does not take much for a word smith to express their opinon but it takes much dedication to develop a great race horse than those of you in the media to put forth the divel you publish.
35 - Judy Ann Senefeld
The reason Barbaro stole everyone's heart is not that he broke his leg. Anyone who has ever seen a champion, being it human or animal, knows just how special that is. I watched Barbaro win the Kentucky Derby at Ameriquest Field just before the Yankees beat the Rangers. I am also a horsewomen who instantly knew that if Barbaro stayed uninjuried that the world would finally see a Triple Crown winner. The fact that jockey Prada could pull that horse up so quickly is a credit to him and that horse. A racehorse wants to run, but this horse knew that his life was at stake. The data that is being collected from this surgery will teach doctors and vets how to fix injuries that before this could not be fixed. I read every update on Barbaro because as a human being I want and hope for the best in everyone's day. I actually feel sorry for you that you can't care about this horse and the people who actually love him. Remember, a champion is always a champion. Barbaro will long be remembered, but will you and if you are, why? Did you make the world a better place or did you just write ugly things about people and animals? The reason people are getting up in arms over this is Barbaro can't defend himself. Barbaro, his trainer, owners and jockey should not have to read ugly things like this, either. You should be rooting for him, because just deserves it! For a shinning moment, the world had another hero to look up to. Everyday that he gets better he proves that courage is more than winning. Sometimes it is just proving the odds wrong.
36 - Susan in Tampa
Do you even have a clue that people who could care less about the 'sport' of horse racing are now suddenly interested?
The horse racing industry has gotten a 'just in time' resurgence due to the poor unfortunate accident that Barbaro suffered. The HORSE RACING INDUSTRY is HUGELY INDEBTED to BARBARO!
TV interest for the Belmont Stakes waned until it was announced that there would be live coverage of Barbaro! Many of us watched ONLY to see a glimpse of Barbaro! Personally, I turned it off when the race started.
It's BARBARO's welfare and 'good news' of his continued recovery (albeit tempered with warnings that he still may not survive) that HIS FANS want to read about! Not your blathering about 'Do you know who won the Belmont Stakes?"
Barbaro's owners (M/M Jackson) recognize the outpouring of well wishes and prayers for Barbaro is the manifestation of people loving a horse whom they've never met and making him their own.
Human competitors are aware of disasters that may strike them; animals aren't. Animals ask for nothing and do their 'job'(happily), oblivious to the possible dangers. That's what makes it so heart breaking when animals are injured, or die, doing 'our' bidding. They are innocent to the foibles we, as humans, ask of them.
Barbaro came through for the Jacksons (6 of 6 winner, including the Derby) and he gave the spectator public one helluva romp in the Derby! THAT's when we fell in love with Barbaro!
Yes! We can tell you who won the 132nd running of the Kentucky Derby!
Though the Triple Crown was not meant to be for Barbaro, M/M Jackson have created a 'Crown' for Barbaro of his own. They have made lemonade out of lemons (if you will) by starting the 'Barbaro Fund' to help other animals whose owners may not have the financial means to provide them with expert medical care.
Another manifestation of Barbaro's misfortune / sacrifice, The Bolten Center (where Barbaro is receiving life saving care from Drs Richardson, Sweeney and staff) has been blessed with world-wide publicity and recently received a $13.5 million grant from the governor of Kentucky for facility expansion (only AFTER Barbaro was admitted as a patient!). God works in mysterious ways.
Barbaro wasn't meant to only win horse races -- he's creating a better world for the HUMAN RACE!
Mr. Sussum, your credentials state you are first and foremost, a COMPUTER GEEK who aspires (in your own mind) to be a writer. Don't quit your day job -- you're with like company. Computers don't have a soul.
37 - Matthew T. Sussman
This Sussum character sounds like a real douchebag.
38 - Tracy in Louisville, KY
You're obviously clueless about courage. Otherwise you would recognize it in Barbaro, his owner's Gretchen and Roy Jackson, his jockey Edgar Prado and his doctor Dean Richardson and the staff at the New Bolton Center not to mention the vast majority of the American public. You would be wise to get off your "high horse" (no pun intended) and spend more time looking in the mirror. I have a strong suspicion you won't like what you see. Oh, and by the way "Matt", I sure hope you never break your leg. You wouldn't get any prayers from this audience.
39 - Tracy in Louisville, KY
To Suzanne Hewitt, comment #27. Thank you so much for your comment on H.R. 503. The bill, that if passed, will be a huge step in ending horse slaughter in this country. If others reading these comments don't know about the extremely inhumane and cruel treatment horses are subjected to on a daily basis at three foreign owned slaughterhouses in this country, I urge you to go to www.saplonline.org/horses.htm. Then go to www.congress.org. There you can enter your zip code and e-mail your congressman or woman and urge them to support H.R. 503.
40 - Chelsea Snyder
Matt, I just wanted to say this in a public forum. I don't know how you do it. With each simple and assinine of columns, you piss off an entire new demographic of people. I'm not even mad. That's amazing. I'll make you feel better and let it be known in a public forum that horses like Barbaro probably make up Bodhi and Ziggy's puppy food ... there. Now everyone can hate me. Everyone loves a new target running around on the shooting range. :)
41 - Suzanne Hewitt
Sorry to disappoint Chelsea. Thanks for reiterating the need for the vote. Although horses "like Barbaro" are typically not candidates for puppy food, many are (I say typically, because one of our finest horses, Kentucky Derby winnder Ferdinand, was slaughtered in Japan). And thank you Tracy for the extra mention.
I love all these comments and I'm glad so many people feel strongly about our great, magnificent champion Barbaro.
To quote from the film "Dreamer", this is the way Barbaro will ALWAYS be remembered:
"You are a great champion. When you ran, the ground shook, the sky opened and mere mortals parted. Part of the way to victory, where you'll meet me in the winner's circle, where I'll put a blanket of flowers on your back."
42 - Suzanne Hewitt
Woops. Winner, not winnder!
43 - Autumn in Phoenix, AZ
Mr. Sussman:
While parts of your article both offended and outraged me, I must reluctantly admit that your response in post #37 made me giggle.
44 - Chelsea Snyder
I met Mr. Sussum once. We hooked up, but quickly fizzled when he slept with my mother and stole my cat. Damn you, Mr. Sussum!!!
45 - Matthew T. Sussman
As long as we're taking requests, might I cherry pick through the comments and select my favorite lines.
Comment No. 10: "...Go Away Mr. Sussman!!!"
I was here first.
46 - Mary Lou
Give it up, Buddy. This is America's horse you are talking about. I hope you are better to your software students than you are being to Barbaro.
You are obviously CLUELESS.
47 - Craven Morehead
Ignorance breeds contempt. If anyone should be forgotten, it's the author of this insensitive article that should be put out to pasture.
48 - Susan
If the writing were better in this piece, the puns fresher, or something was there to capture the imagination other than the negativity, Sussman's piece might be worth the ink to print it. Luckily this blog didn't sacrifice any trees.
Fact is, the world still supports vestigial folks who "just don't get it" about a lot of things, including their own humanity, but evolution requires that they be heard.
By the way, people who actually work in the Thorobred industry wouldn't use the slang "Just a Horse" to describe a Derby winner, especially one who later showed all the world he was a hero. I'm wondering why somebody who presents himself as a sportswriter and writes a piece on Thorobreds would expose his ignorance that way. Do your research, gentle writer, before you blow your cover again, and then come back and write us a piece that reflects a better understanding of what's going on outside your own ego.
49 - Matthew T. Sussman
Dear Susan, the only souls who have used the phrase "just a horse" appear in the comments. That phrase appears nowhere in my article. You're not the first person to make that mistake though.
50 - Susan
Matthew:
This article is really ALL ABOUT YOU, Matthew, my boy, and your need for attention. Kathy (Comment #9) said it most articulately and speaks, I think, for most of us.
Yes ... IF ONLY you had a heart, indeed.
51 - Susan Hopkins
I am Susan #50. My comments/opinions are my own, even though Susan #48 and I share similar views.
Clearing the air,
Susan Hopkins
52 - T. Ruth
All of you people that are ripping Mr. Sussman are a bunch of hypocrites. If you really cared about horses like you profess that you do, then you'd really be outraged by the fact that the horses are forced to spend most of their youth running in circles with a man on the back slapping their ass with a piece of hard leather.
You really think the horse wants to be doing that? How about we strap a saddle and a 50 lb. sack of concrete on all of your backs and force you to run a mile? Not one of you would like it. But as much as a 'fantastic athlete' or 'beautiful creature' a horse may be, it certainly does not like it any better. It's time for you people to get informed.
Yes, feel sorry for the horse because it is stuck in this animal form of indentured servitude, and certainly one injured doing so. But there should be no sympathy for its' owners. Any owner of a racehorse, as much as they say otherwise that they're a champion of horses, does it for the money. They want to profit from it. Pure and simple. They're the ones you people should vent your venom at, not a sports writer like Sussman.
Here's a pun for you people: It's time for you to take the blinders off.
53 - Gloria Davis
What a pathetic article, Mr. Sussman. Forget about Barbaro? You must be kidding. He has our love, and always will. You, must be such an unhappy human being, I truly feel sorry for you.
54 - Purple Tigress
There are those of us who haven't forgotten Ruffian and those same people will most likely not forget Barbaro. These are the people who really love horses as opposed the superficial public.
After all, people still visit John Henry.
55 - Jeri
What a jerk - I have never even heard of this guy
56 - Alice
Mr. Sussman may be crass, but he has a point about obscurity. Ferdinand won the Kentucky Derby but ended up in a Japanese slaughter house. Fortunately Barbaro has responsible owners who apparently won't let him, or any of their horses, end up on the dinner table. Dinner no, obscurity? Probably.
57 - Susan H
The cynical reference to Derby Winner Ferdinand ending up on the Japanese dinner table -- while relaying a sad truth -- has missed the impact on contemporary politics. In the last 3 years -- partly due to widespread outrage at Ferdinand's fate -- momentumn is gaining in support of legislation that will put an outright ban on shipping and killing horses for foreign food markets. That includes our wild Ameirican horses too, who are trucked, often inhumanely, to foregin owned slaugher houses. Many T-Bred racetracks (Including Churchill Downs) and owners (including Barbaro's co-owner ) have signed on in public support of this bill. We can join the majority of the racing community by writing to our congressmen too. This issue is as much about how foreign corporations, with the help of the Dept of Agriculture, have done an end run around congressional orders as it is about racing.
Back to Barbaro: His injury put the speed on changing to artificial track surgfaces. Helps horses, helps jockeys. It also drew huge publicity to the above legislation. History will show whether his broken leg is more a tipping point than a trip into obscurity. My money is on the optimist side, not the jealous cynic's.
In response to the bit about horses not wanting to run --- people slap backpacks on all the time and high tail it up mountains. Look at the old footage of Barbaro. If he doesn't want to run he did a good job pretending otherwise. Himself without a cynical, complaining, whining, loser bone in his body. Maybe that's why we still care.
IMHO -- obscurity is the fate of those who fail to inspire, whether they walk on four legs or swagger on two.
58 - Laura J. Burkhart
I just got off the phone with Barbaro. He thought the column was a major hoot. Then he told me that all he wants is for people to feed him oats and carrots and leave him the hell alone. Oh, he also said that there is nothing more humbling than having a tiny man on your back, smacking you repeatedly in the bottom in front of a crowd of strangers.
Thank You.
MGNT
59 - Suzanne Hewitt
Earth to Laura, and T. Ruth. The horses that love to run are the winners. Horese were designed to run. In the wild they run miles everyday. Who knows, they may have a natrual instinct to race eachother even without the sport. How do you explain the wire to wire close finishers occuring everyday? Do you realize that these race horses get treated better than horses at any other time in history? I am an avid horseracing fan and there are no marks left on them after they are urged with a carefully designed whip, which incurs minimal pain. If it was very painful, the horse would rebel more often than not. Do you know what would have happened to Barbaro in the wild? He would have been left to die a slow and painful death.
As for Ferdinand, in defense of his owners, once they heard about his possible fate they tried their best to locate him. I looked into it extensively through certain channels to find out.
It is the US department of Agriculture who keeps finding loopholes around the ban of horse slaughter. The congress has voted already several times to ban horse slaughter, only to be trumped by the USDA. This is not horseracing's fault. Not to say that all owners are perfect, but most have a deep connection, love and absolute awe of their horses.
Vote to support H.R. 503 and quit complaining. The jockeys go through much worse than the horse does, and they do it for the thrill, out of their own choice. They would not take on such a career if it was not in their wildest dreams to battle down the stretch.
In the meantime, I have been loving this debate and forum that Mr. Sussman began. It has only galvanized more support for Barbaro and the cause of horses.
So, while I disagree with Sussman's assessment wholeheartedly; I can rest assured that obscurity is not where Barbaro will end up.
60 - Lynn Ellen Black
Shame on you. I know that I shouldn't reply...because that is exactly what you want. How low will you go to get attention? Well, you got mine....I wish you hadn't. I don't want to waste my energy on someone like you. Hope you don't break a leg any time soon.
61 - Laura J. Burkhart
Mars to Suzanne,
I never said that having a tiny man on my back, smacking me repeatedly in the bottom would be painful. I'm just saying it would deplete my self confidence faster than an all you can eat pancake buffet on a Sunday morning. I like racing, but saddles are itchy and jockies talk back.
62 - Christine K.
You don't even have to break your leg... people will just throw dirt on you. Later Lucifer.
You seem mean.
63 - JT
Great work Suss, I discovered this post from the MJD comments and I gotta say IF YOU ONLY HAD A HEART... ok maybe not.
Reading these comments has been hilarious, I welcome more lovely insight on what you can do if you ever broke your leg and from the people who apparently have a huge love for horses.
I especially love comment #12. That's just...fantastic.
I'm by no means an animal hater, but damn, some people need to get a grip.
I'd like to refer you to: killbarbaro on blogspot
64 - Janice McDonnell
Mister, you never trotted out of obscurity. It's always better to be a has-been than a never-was. Alas, you're a never-was.
65 - SB
Wow, I bet Barbaro is rolling in his grave.
66 - Dan
> "Wow, I bet Barbaro is rolling in his grave."
Are you sure that's not a spit?
67 - GymClassHeroes
Suss,
Great article. Just came over from "the website that must not be named", ahem, deadspin and your avatar RULES!!!
And to all the Barbaro message board enthusiasts, "GET A DAMN LIFE!"
68 - RL in DC
Quoting -- "He's a horse. Lots of horses break legs." Any differentiation between the sentiment "he's just a horse" (or "he's only a horse") and the above would be splitting hairs. Bottom line, when you insinuate that Barbaro was forgotten after the KD by the public, you were wrong. And while you obviously monitor the comments (since you interject snide comments every now and again), you haven't the stones to even as much allow as you MIGHT have been wrong. But facts are stubborn things, and they're a lot more persistent then your quibbling. BTW, it's pretty low to crack on a four-year-old's love of a horse. Disregards an animal's suffering, out of touch with the popular mood, dismissive of a child -- I haven't seen such a complete indictment of a man's character in a written effort since Mein Kampf.
69 - Matthew T. Sussman
It took six months, but we finally have Godwinnage. I am Hitler.
Thanks for comin', everybody. Tip your waitresses!