Barbaro Is Improving

Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro is progressing so well he might not have the cast on his severely injured right hind leg changed for several weeks.

Dean Richardson, the surgeon who repaired Barbaro’s shattered bones after the colt broke down at the Preakness Stakes on May 20, said Tuesday the prized patient has had an “incredibly good week -- far better than I would have ever hoped so far, so far, so far.”

Meanwhile, jockey Edgar Prado paid his first visit to Barbaro since pulling up the colt early in the Preakness, and he said he was relieved by what he saw.

“It was very emotional,” Prado said. “I was happy to see him doing so good, feeling so good, looking so bright. He’s not out of the woods yet, but it was really good to see him making progress.”

After Barbaro’s five-hour-plus surgery May 21, Richardson had said the prospects of recovery were “50-50.”

That has changed slightly.

“I was going to call a news conference to say it’s officially 51%,” Richardson said, smiling. “Seriously, every day that goes by is a big day, and in terms of some of the complications, some of them were more likely to rear their head in the earlier stages in the convalescence,” such as infection within 10 to 14 days.