Prado Is ‘Heartbroken’ Over Barbaro

Edgar Prado, the jockey aboard Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro when the colt broke down because of a shattered hind leg in the Preakness Stakes, said Wednesday he was “heartbroken” and spent much of the last few days crying.

“I have never ridden a horse that broke down that was as special as Barbaro,” Prado told reporters at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., where he returned to the saddle after two days off.

“Of all the tears I have cried, if tears could heal a wound, Barbaro would be healed by now,” Prado said.

“I’ve been thinking about him and I’ve been crying on and off. I can’t do any more.”

Prado was credited by Barbaro’s surgeon, trainer and owners with preventing even more damage by pulling the colt up quickly Saturday in the opening moments of the Preakness at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

“I reacted pretty quickly and I tried to hold him together,” Prado said. “The horse did his job by not fighting with me.

“He knew he was hurt and he knew what he wanted -- he wanted to survive. I think he’ll make it through. He’s a very special horse.”

Prado had hoped he would be riding Barbaro in the Belmont Stakes on June 10 with a chance to sweep the Triple Crown races for the first time since Affirmed in 1978.

Prado-ridden horses twice have spoiled opponents’ chances of a Triple Crown -- Sarava’s defeating War Emblem in 2002 and Birdstone’s upsetting Smarty Jones in 2004.

The field for this year’s Belmont dwindled further Wednesday with the announcement that Preakness winner Bernardini, owned by Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum’s Darley Stable, will skip the Belmont and focus on a schedule pointing toward the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November.

It has been an emotionally charged year for Prado, 38, whose mother, Zenaida, died of cancer in January in Peru after a delay in receiving clearance to enter the United States for treatment.

“The hardest part of my life was when I lost my mother,” Prado said. “Saturday was the toughest day of my career.”

Veterinarians at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., reported Wednesday that Barbaro was doing well.

But Dr. Dean Richardson, the surgeon who directed nearly eight hours of procedures Sunday to repair Barbaro’s shattered leg, has cautioned it could be two months or more before it is known whether the horse will survive.

Richardson also said many horses with injuries such as Barbaro’s are euthanized on the track and are never given a chance to overcome their injuries.

“It goes to show you that in America, everything is possible,” Prado said. “The technology here is superior to so many other countries. You have a better chance to survive any kind of injury or illness here than you do anywhere else.

“I’m glad he’s getting what my mother didn’t. A chance to survive.”