Barbaro Fans Send Flowers and Fruit

The fruit and floral deliveries for America's No. 1 horse patient, Barbaro, arrive almost one after the other.

They fill tables in the main entrance of the New Bolton Center, they're propped up near fences blanketed with get-well signs, and some of the day-old roses are right there in front of Barbaro's intensive care unit stall.

''I've never seen it like this before,'' a security guard said. ''It's like the king is here!''

Well, sort of.

That's what everyone thought he would be, especially if Barbaro had won Preakness, headed for the Belmont Stakes and made a try for the elusive Triple Crown.

However, just a few seconds out of the gate at Saturday's Preakness, three bones in his right hind leg shattered and so did the dream of racing immortality.

That night, Barbaro arrived at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center.

And the fans have been coming ever since.

They've brought homemade signs expressing prayers and well wishes, then tacked them to the fences that line the entrance of the center. ''We Love You, Barbaro.'' ''Believe in Miracles.'' ''Beat the Odds.''

Some signs carry pictures of the horse, including the renderings of children _ one with a crayon-colored red heart. Others are signed by families who filed out of their cars to add a token of support.

''I think it's a wonderful thing, a positive thing for racing if some good can come out of it,'' Barbaro's owner, Roy Jackson, said Tuesday.

On the other hand, Barbaro's road to recovery has led to a congested road of optimism: Cars slow on Route 926 as they rubberneck for a view of the makeshift tribute. Passengers hold out digital cameras to take a snapshot of a rare jolt of celebrity in the normally serene horse country southwest of Philadelphia.

''Hopefully his foot will heal up real well,'' said Kathy Martin, of Willards, Md., as she plucked a piece of tape from another sign to make her get-well card stick.

Jackson finds it hard to explain all the outpouring of public support for Barbaro.

''I really don't have an answer why he's really captured the popularity of the American people,'' he said. ''I don't know.''

The simple answer seems to be everyone loves a winner, especially one like Barbaro _ who is fighting the odds just to live after a catastrophic injury to his right hind leg at the Preakness.

Louis Lazar, a neighbor of trainer Michael Matz, arrived from a few miles down the road on his motorcycle to pay tribute. A cross-country horse rider and fox hunter, Lazar said watching Barbaro break down was especially moving to horse lovers.

''I rushed home Saturday to see that race,'' he said. ''I wish I stayed out and jumped four more fences. It was hard to see. We just hope he gets better. Everyone loves that horse.''

Dr. Dean Richardson and Roy and Gretchen Jackson were flanked at Tuesday's press conference by dozens of roses and baskets of apples that were delivered for the ill horse. Apples, carrots, peppermints and even more flowers filled the lobby or were left by the signs. One bouquet was addressed to ''a great champ.''

So many apples were sent to the hospital they had to be shared with other horses in the ICU.

''It's overwhelming,'' Gretchen Jackson said. ''I don't know how Roy and I could participate in responding to their loving kindness throughout his career.''

New Bolton Center added a link to its Web site, http://www.vet.upenn.edu/barbaro/, where fans can send messages that will be posted on their online message board. The United States Equestrian Federation created the e-mail address matzbarbarousef.org, and those messages will be compiled and forwarded to Barbaro's connections.

''We don't have a keyboard in his stall yet,'' Richardson joked. ''I don't know how that's going to work out.''