A thought and don't take me wrong on this one.. Isn't it the TB way that it has to be only live cover?
And since Barbaro's back leg was broken he could not..? Do you think since this is the start of breeding season they might have been keeping him going hoping that he would get some breedings in before putting him down?

It is only a thought and was wondering if anyone else thought this.. or do you think they may have just collected with live, and then AI right there.?

In order to be registered with the jockey club and thus a racehorse, yes, thoroughbreds must be live cover. In theory though, they could have collected to offer for sale IA for non-jockey club registration. I know several people who have thoroughbreds that were not raced or were not tatooed but were bred for the sole purpose of having a nice TB. But the owners announced that they did not collect any semen.

In 99, they were able to save Charismatic. He won the KY derby, the Preakness and broke his left front in two places in the Belmont. Jockey Chris Antley (who I had the hugest crush on when I watched him race at Monmouth) was credited with saving the horse's life pulling the horse up early, immediately jumping off and holding hte horse's leg up. You could see the poor guy crying. Sadley, Chris was found dead the following year from an overdose.

Though I may be in the minority, I'd like to think that they were trying to save him for the very same reasons we would try to save our own horses in a similar scenario if money were unlimited and the technology were there.

Though I hate the concept behind racing, and I think the babies are too young to break and run, I grew up around the track (Monmouth and Belmont). My dad snuck me in before the age limit from when I was 8 years old on. We went pretty often. I've also had friends who were trainers and track photographers. I just wish they would start these horses older and not run the claiming horses into the ground.

When I was a little kid, I watched the match race between Ruffian and Foolish Pleasure, and I will never forget what it felt like to see her break down. I felt the same way with Barbaro and held out hope that he'd make it.

Just wanted to post here for those with ex racehorses. You can get your horse's race record from the jockey club online. (It's relatively inexpensive and comes in your email in less than a day. I think I spent $20-something for a long record.)

Anyway, from there, you can determine ifyour horse has any wins. The record will show you the date, track and race number. You can then call the track and get the track photographer and see if he still has thehorse's photos.

I tried scanning and uploading the win photo my horse had. Amazingly, the photographer still had the negatives from 1996. For $48 I have two 8x10 photos with lettering from back when my horse was a 4 year old.

Also, if you know the registered name of your horse, you can look him up at www.pedigreequery.com and get his ancestry all the way back to first thoroughbreds. I've spent hours on this looking up my horse. You can also see the photos of his ancestors.

$48!?!?!?! Wow, your track is exspensive KC. I get my win photos for $15 a photo!

Hes a win photo of my OTTB, Mister:

Wow! $15!? Maybe mine were more expensive because they were so much older (1996) and had to be pulled from negatives! Yours is from 2005 or so...so I'd bet they had them digitally. Love your photo!