In a startling and unfortunate twist on the Triple Crown trail, heavy favorite, Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was pulled up by jockey Edgar Prado in front of the grandstand just a few hundred yards into the 131st running of the Preakness Stakes with an injury to his right hind leg. As of this writing, we await news of his health. It seems clear that he’ll never race again. It is tempting to see his prerace shenanigans, his hotblooded jump through the gate onto the track before the start, as a precursor to the injury, but it seems as if it was a simple misstep.

The wrenching, sinking feeling is familiar to horseplayers. Horses love to run. They are naturally competitive. But we push them hard. I’m no vet, no trainer but these horses have so many drugs in their system–the legal ones, the anti-inflammatories and the diuretics and what have you–that they push beyond their natural limits and into a realm of performance their bodies aren’t capable of sustaining.

Barbaro fractured his right hind leg in two places, above and below the ankle. If he damaged the blood supply to the muscle tissue there, he’s dead. They will operate and attempt to save the horse.

It’s horrible.

It’s horseracing.

It detracts from the entire sport. But it doesn’t detract from Bernardini’s victory. If anything, it should enhance it. These horses give everything, in this case, Barbaro, yesterday’s hero, has perhaps given his life. It could have been any of them. It could have been Bernardini.

As expected, Like Now got out front, but he didn’t get loose. Sweetnorthernsaint was on his back the whole way around the oval. Pushing him. They didn’t fly through the fractions, but they were setting an honest pace, getting through the half in 46 3/4 and 6 furlongs in 1:10 1/5.

On the backstretch, Brother Derek tried to make his move, ranged up on the outside next to Sweetnorthernsaint, and couldn’t hold it together to get by them.

Bernardini, the lightly raced colt owned by Sheik Mohammed of the United Arab Emirates and trained by Tom Albertrani, was sitting perfectly in the pocket. Javier Castellano tucked him into the pocket, gave him a perfect trip, and at the quarter pole, they exploded.

He rocketed down the stretch and under the wire, completing the 1 3/16 in 1:54.65. Berardini paid 27.80.

Sweetnorthernsaint was tired, but he held on for a place. Hemingway’s Key got up for the show. Completing the order of finish: Brother Derek, Greeley’s Legacy, Platinum Couple, Like Now, Diabolical

Meanwhile, we await what we all feel is the real result of the Preakness, the news about Barbaro.