Churchill Downs chosen as final resting place for Barbaro

Barbaro’s ashes will be placed outside of Gate 1 at Churchill Downs (Michael J. Marten/Horsephotos.com)

Churchill Downs has been selected as the final resting place for 2006
Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Barbaro, who was euthanized one year ago after a
lengthy battle with laminitis. The announcement was made Tuesday by Barbaro’s
owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, at a Churchill Downs news conference.

Barbaro’s remains were cremated following his death on January 29, 2007, and
his ashes will be interred outside of Gate 1 at Churchill Downs, in a large
elevated space enclosed by bricks that is currently used as a garden. The site,
which will be open to the public, will include a larger-than-life-sized bronze
statue of the Kentucky Derby 132 winner that will be commissioned by the
Jacksons and loaned to Churchill Downs as part of Barbaro’s official memorial
site.

“Churchill Downs is deeply honored to be selected as the final resting place
for Barbaro, who first captured our hearts with his impressive win in the 132nd
Kentucky Derby and who demonstrated strength and determination in his long
battle to overcome both injury and illness,” said Steve Sexton, president of
Churchill Downs and executive vice president of Churchill Downs Inc. “Barbaro
took his place in history on the first Saturday in May 2006 with a brilliant
Kentucky Derby victory, but his accomplishments as a racehorse are certainly
rivaled by the courage and resolve he displayed after his injury. We are
grateful to the Jacksons for entrusting their beloved Derby champion to us.”

“Gretchen and I are pleased to be collaborating with Churchill Downs in this
wonderful project,” Roy Jackson said. “In the (last) year, we
have spent much time thinking about Barbaro’s memorial and where it would be
best placed. Churchill Downs became the obvious site for us. It was here that he
ran his best race. It was here where we spent our most memorable day as horse
owners and breeders. It was here where his racing fans could visit daily, and it
was here at Churchill Downs where he was cordially invited to rest. We look
forward to working with Steve Sexton and his team.”