Bred for Speed ... Built for Trouble

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But even superhorses can be pushed to the limit. With breeding fees as high as they are, owners are tempted to put their best horses on the track sooner and retire them to reproduce earlier. Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner, had 21 career starts. Smarty Jones, winner of the Derby and Preakness in 2004, logged only nine. Rank-and-file racehorses start early too but have harder careers. Winter used to be off-season for racing in the U.S., but now horses are trucked to courses where the weather is warmer and the wagering can continue. What's more, U.S. fans have grown to prefer shorter, faster races, so breeders produce animals suited to sprints. The faster you move, however, the harder you can fall.

Still, there is no proof that horses bred for speed are more injury prone. Are today's Thoroughbreds more fragile? "Absolutely not," says Widener director Dr. Corinne Sweeney. Owners do periodically outcross, bringing in new breeding partners to freshen the gene pool. But that is merely an effort to boost performance, not build a sturdier animal.

Trainer Bob Baffert, whose horses have won the Derby and Preakness, insists that if injuries are on the rise, it's only because the number of racehorses is too. Fifty years ago, 10,000 foals were registered annually; today that figure is 34,000. TV contributes to the sense that injuries are on the rise, broadcasting the worst ones over and over. Besides, anytime you've got 1,200 lbs. of animal on the move, accidents will happen. "I've seen horses in the paddock injure themselves," Baffert says. "Barbaro just stepped wrong."

When a horse does get hurt, it's nice to have a repair shop like the Widener Hospital on hand. As would any doctor, one of the first things surgeon Dean Richardson did when Barbaro arrived was feel his patient's pulse--in several spots along the injured leg. Weak pulses or a cold foot would have meant that blood-vessel injury had occurred and the limb was lost. "He had good, strong pulses, and his foot was warm," says Richardson. "I was thrilled."

One day after the surgery that repaired his limb, Barbaro was standing--gingerly--with the aid of a cast, but his situation is still touch and go. Infection remains a risk, as does laminitis, injury to the tissue between hoof and bone that can affect the healthy left hind leg, which now bears more weight. To minimize the risk of reinjury, Barbaro will be confined in his stall for several months. The goal is not to get him fit enough to race; that option ended shortly outside the gate at Pimlico. What he does need is an ankle strong enough to support him on his hind legs for mating. (Artificial insemination is forbidden for Thoroughbreds, in part to avoid overworking a few blood lines.) "We want Barbaro to have a reasonable quality of life," says Richardson. "I think that would be enhanced if he's able to have sex with a lot of pretty mares."