Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro euthanized

KENNETT SQUARE, Pa., Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, who suffered a severe left leg injury in the Preakness Stakes, was euthanized Monday at a Pennsylvania veterinary hospital.

Complications from laminitis, which can affect weight-bearing bones in horses, led University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine doctors and Barbaro's owners to decide to euthanize the horse.

"We just reached a point where it was going to be difficult for him to go on without pain," horse co-owner Roy Jackson told the Baltimore Sun. "It was the right decision, it was the right thing to do."

Barbaro, who won all six of his career races, won the 2006 Kentucky Derby by 6 1/2 lengths and was the bettors' favorite in the Preakness on May 20. But shortly after the start of the race, Barbaro fractured three bones near the ankle of his right hind leg.

After surgery for that injury Barbaro developed laminitis in his left hind leg.

On Sunday, the hospital put out a release stating Barbaro had developed a deep subsolar abscess on his right hind hoof. They placed pins in the horse's right hind cannon bone but doctors expressed concern because the injury was in a weight-bearing bone.