Nearing the one-year anniversary of Barbaro’s death, Gretchen Jackson said she and her husband, Roy, are close to announcing where the ashes of the winner of the 2006 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) will be buried.
Barbaro was euthanized Jan. 29, 2007, after an eight-month battle to overcome a shattered right rear leg and the ensuing complication of laminitis in his rear left hoof. Almost miraculously, he recovered from the initial injury that occurred in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) May 20, 2006.
At the time of Barbaro’s death, the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington and Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., were among the places that offered burial sites. The Jacksons proposed the idea that a museum in Pennsylvania to honor the region’s contributions to horse racing also might be appropriate.
Gretchen Jackson said Jan. 14 the museum idea had been put aside, but every outside offer of a resting place has been considered and she and her husband are “very close” to making a decision.
“He will be in a significant place where there is access to everyone who is interested in visiting him,” she said. “It’s an appropriate place in terms of how we like to think of him.”
