Barbaro got the attention he did because people fell in love with him, and there was something about him and his human connections which appealed to people from all walks of life and every sort of background. His brave fight for life captured everyone's attention for awhile in 2006 and 2007- and it has had enormous benefits in terms of raising public awareness of the terrible disease that he died from, laminitis. Millions of dollars have now been raised for research into this horrible affliction, and the hope is that this will one day result in new treatments, and perhaps, a cure. Laminitis, ( or founder, as it is called by those of us in the horse business) is a MAJOR killer of horses, both here in the US, and worldwide. It's estimated that between 100,000 and 300,000 horses DIE from laminitis or its complications every year, just in the US alone. The great majority of these animals are not famous- in fact, in most cases, no one even knows their names, outside of the owner(s) involved. This doesn't mean that they are any less valuable or important, however, just because they are not famous.
I also believe that Barbaro got the attention he did because of his human connections. The Jacksons and the colt's trainer, Michael Matz, are unusual people in a lot of ways. This was the first time in anyone's memory, I think, that an attempt was made to save a valuable race horse for reasons other than stud fees. The colt's owners made it clear from the begining that they were trying to save him because they LOVED him, and for no other reason. They could have cared less about his potential future earnings in the breeding shed, because it was likely that there wouldn't have been any of these anyway, because of his injury. The racing industry is just NOT USED to this kind of thinking- or to this kind of unselfish behavior. For most of the people in that business, the horses are seen as commodities and as money making machines, rather than the flesh and blood creatures they actually are, which is heartbreaking, at least for some of us. Then there was the heartwarming story of the colt's trainer, Matz, who is not only a 2 time Olympic silver medalist in his own right, but is also a genuine hero and lifesaver, as well as someone who came from very humble beginings and then rose to the top of his profession through his own hard work and perseverence. Matz is not like the Nick Zitos, Bob Bafferts, Todd Pletchers, and D.Wayne Lukas's of the world, and he NEVER will be. Compared to these other people, Matz will always be considered to be small potatoes, despite the fact that he has had enormous success in his career and life. In short, he is a " little guy" if you will, and people in the racing business just aren't used to the idea that someone like that can come from nowhere and win at the highest levels, and beat these other big name people at their own game as easily as Matz and this colt did. That alone caught the eye of a lot of us who might otherwise not have paid any attention to this whole situation, because it rubbed some of us the wrong way. Remember the criticism of Matz's training methods which was in the press right before the Derby a couple years ago? People said he was wrong and crazy to let Barbaro have a month off after the colt won the Florida Derby that spring. After the colt won the Derby so commandingly, the critics SHUT UP, which they needed to do, and they have been quiet about it since then. That might not have happened the way it did had Barbaro been any other horse.
As for the horses who are members of what is sometimes called the 2/3 Club, there have been plenty of tributes paid to them over the years, and some of them have gone on to sire other horses like themselves, and a few, like the great Man O War, have sired a Triple Crown winner. These horses are remembered and honored all the time, just not in the news of the day. The reason a lot of soldiers who die in places like Iraq don't get the publicity is because of privacy laws and because their families often request this. I live near Dover AFB in Delaware, and there have been many, many nights when I have been woken by planes flying overhead at 2 in the morning ( last night, there was one that took off at 3:30 am) when they are either taking off or landing after going to Iraq and Afghanistan to pick up our war dead and bring them home for identification and burial. Do you know why those planes fly at that hour, instead of during the daylight? It's to avoid publicity, and keep the Air Force from having to deal with crowds of reporters who would otherwise bother the families of the deceased soldiers. The news networks, like CNN and Fox, normally will respect the families' wish for privacy, and this is why you seldom see burial or funeral plans for individual soldiers announced on them. It has nothing to do with who deserves the most attention, pal, and everything to do with respecting peoples' rights to privacy and confidentiality. There are exceptions to this, of course, such as when someone like a 4 or 5 star general gets killed, but this doesn't happen very often.
Enough said.