KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. -- Barbaro's owners will take their time
before determining the final resting place for their beloved
Kentucky Derby winner.
"He was so loved by the public, we've always said we wanted
him in a place where people could visit."
-- Co-owner Gretchen Jackson
It could be the Kentucky Derby Museum, just a few hundred yards
from the scene of his greatest triumph in the 2006 Derby at
Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Or it could be in the bluegrass
of Lexington, Ky., at the 1,200-acre Kentucky Horse Park.
Barbaro's final home might even form the basis of a regional
racing museum in Pennsylvania.
"There's a concept for some kind of museum for horses from this
area," Barbaro's co-owner Gretchen Jackson said Wednesday. "We'll
be looking at that the next few days before deciding where Barbaro
goes."
Barbaro, who had been at the University of Pennsylvania's New
Bolton Center since shattering three bones in his right hind leg in
last May's Preakness, was euthanized Monday.
"He was cremated," Jackson said. "I assume it has taken
place."
Gretchen and Roy Jackson thought about burying Barbaro's ashes
at their 190-acre farm in West Grove, Pa., a few miles from New
Bolton Center.
"But he was so loved by the public, we've always said we wanted
him in a place where people could visit," Gretchen Jackson said.
"It wouldn't feel right with people coming in and out of here."
The Jacksons are thankful the Derby museum and the horse park
are interested in helping, but burying Barbaro's ashes at a local
racing museum is appealing, too.
One issue Jackson cleared up is that no sperm was taken from
Barbaro before he was euthanized.
"We don't even know if he was potent," Jackson said. "It
would be great to have his babies, but it won't happen."