Dimensions
135 x 203 x 12mm
A new superstar appeared on America's sports scene in the spring of 2006 when Barbaro' a three-year-old racehorse' won the Kentucky Derby by 6 ½ lengths' the largest margin of victory in 60 years. Barbaro's impressive performance immediately stirred talk of a possible Triple Crown. But in the opening yards of the Preakness Stakes two weeks later' the horse suffered a catastrophic leg injury that ended his undefeated career and left him fighting for his life.
Edgar Prado' a native of Peru and one of the world's top jockeys' rode Barbaro to glory and then stood beside him for months as the horse valiantly struggled to survive and millions of fans held their breath. Having ridden in almost 20'000 races over the previous two decades' Prado thought he had been around too long to fall for any one horse' but Barbaro - intelligent' charismatic' and resourceful in sickness as well as in health - stole his heart.
In MY GUY BARBARO' Prado recounts his own rise from childhood poverty and memorably chronicles his emotional time with Barbaro before' during' and after the horse's breakdown. Their bond was special and immeasurable. With Prado still reeling from a wrenching personal loss' Barbaro uplifted him by giving him "the ride of a lifetime" in the Derby. When the tables turned and the horse needed support two weeks later' Prado was there' going out of his way to make a succession of visits to the New Bolton Center' an animal hospital in Pennslyvania' where Barbaro underwent more than two dozen surgeries and was ultimately put down.
Barbaro made worldwide headlines for eight months' but Prado's poignant' clear-eyed narrative takes readers where no reader has gone before - onto Barbaro's back in the heat of a race' and into the intensive care suite where Barbaro's life-and-death drama played itself out. MY GUY BARBARO is a heartwarming' unforgettable story of a man and his love for a beautiful animal and an irreplaceable teammate.
