Word: barbaro
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...Read "Barbaro: Was It All Worth...
...sight of this beautiful animal collapsing after her courageous effort, her life ended by two shattered front ankles, called up memories of Barbaro, that brilliant colt ruined by a broken leg at the Preakness two years ago. Inevitably, people asked if some moral rot has crept into the sport of kings, wherein immature horses are urged to overextend themselves on legs that snap like icicles...
Timing is everything. When former Congressman-and distinguished priest and liberal luminary-Robert Drinan died earlier this year, the Washington Post published a special appreciation. It ran together with a tribute to another notable who died just one day later: Barbaro. The horse got top billing. And does anyone remember when Mother Teresa died? The greatest saint of our time died on the frenzied eve of the funeral of the greatest diva of our time, Princess Di. In the popular mind, celebrity trumps virtue every time. And consider Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, tormented in life by Stalin, his patron...
...such devotion to an over-the-hill hack? This wasn't a case of, say, a blue-blooded Barbaro coming to a poignant end at the apex of his career. Silent Witness inspired loyalty and fervor partly because he was a global champion. He repeatedly trounced many of the world's best speedsters. For the Hong Kong Jockey Club, internationally renowned for its wealth and incomparable facilities but not, till recently, the quality of its thoroughbreds, Silent Witness showed the Club packed horsepower too. Though racing has played a central role in Hong Kong's social and economic life since...
...moved by the volume of tributes to Barbaro upon his passing: front-page articles, thousands of cards from fans, a college scholarship in his name. Then I found out Barbaro was a horse...