Barbaro in mix for top award

As Barbaro fights for his life in a veterinary hospital in Pennsylvania, the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner could be racking up the horse racing awards 3,000 miles away Monday night when the Eclipse Awards are announced in Beverly Hills. (TVG Network, preview, 6 p.m. ET; awards show, 10 ET).

The colt won the Derby in smashing fashion last May, then had his racing career end and nearly lost his life when he shattered his right hind leg just after the start of the Preakness two weeks later. He is a finalist for champion 3-year-old male, along with Bernardini and Discreet Cat.

The awards are voted on by turf writers and racing secretaries at National Thoroughbred Racing Association tracks.

Barbaro also has a chance to be named horse of the year (finalists are not announced ahead of time), and his owners, Gretchen and Roy Jackson, are in the running for top breeder, while the jockey who might have helped save Barbaro's life with his quick thinking after the Preakness tragedy, Edgar Prado, is up for jockey of the year.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/horses/2007-01-18-barbaro-eclipse-awards_x.htm

and all his humans deserve to win the awards for giving us the best example of 'heart', love and intelligence that we've experienced in recent years. They have shown us how to handle life with honor and compassion.