A Decision Pending on Barbaro???s Ashes

It’s been nearly one year since Barbaro was humanely euthanized, but his ashes have yet to be buried. According to his owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, they are very close to announcing a decision on where to bury their 2006 Kentucky Derby winner’s remains.

Barbaro was euthanized Jan. 29, 2007, after he tried to come back from a shattered right rear leg he sustained during the Preakness on May 20, 2006, but ensuing bouts of laminitis made his recovery impossible.

Many potential burial sites have been offered up for Barbaro, including the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington and Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

In a statement to the Baltimore Sun Monday, Gretchen Jackson said, “It’s taken us long enough. The No. 1 thing we’ve been doing is trying to decide who will do a statue of Barbaro. We’ve spent time looking at various artists’ work, and we’re now waiting on maquettes [small preliminary models] to see how each artist represents him. That’s what we’re waiting for. Once we see those, and I don’t know how much longer that will take, everything should come together.

“He will be in a significant place where there is access to everyone who is interested in visiting him,” she continued. “It’s an appropriate place in terms of how we like to think of him.”