LOUISVILLE, Ky. - One image kept coming to mind every time Gretchen Jackson thought of the champion thoroughbred Barbaro, whose triumph at the Kentucky Derby was followed by tragedy at the Preakness Stakes.
Jackson always pictured the horse airborne, all four legs kicking in unison. When sculptor Alexa King captured that precise snapshot in a miniature model for a bronze statue marking Barbaro's eventual grave site, Jackson knew the full-sized version just had to be built.
"It just made my heart pound because it was so much like Barbaro and was exactly how I had mentally pictured a statue of him," Jackson said.
Jackson and her husband, Roy, unveiled the design for the 1,500-pound artwork Thursday at Churchill Downs, which has been selected as Barbaro's final resting place. King expects the statue marking Barbaro's ashes will be in place outside a gate at the track in time for next year's Run for the Roses.
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