Led to the gate for the first race of his career, Barbaro shied away, reluctant to get started.

A mile later, after an eye-catching 81/2-length victory on Oct. 4 at Delaware Park, trainer Michael Matz and owners Gretchen and Roy Jackson realized they might have a special thoroughbred.
 
“He broke sharp after that, and it was just a run for fun, pretty exciting,” Matz said recently outside his barn at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md. “We knew we had a good horse.”

Runs for fun have been replaced nearly a year later with careful walks after the Kentucky Derby winner took a horrible misstep a few strides into the Preakness and shattered his right hind leg.

First there was five-plus hours of lifesaving surgery, then in mid-July severe laminitis struck and resulted in 80 percent of Barbaro’s left hind hoof being removed