I finally found this email from Kate Grimsley a co-founder of VICCTRE, explaining Metro and his injury:
Metro came to St Croix and then to a race on St Thomas 2 years ago. He broke from the gate strong, but on the first turn suffered a fracture of his left front sesamoid. His owner Felix retired him with our organization VICCTRE. He was a noble and willing patient and had an amazing will to heal. We brought him to our rehab facility DEC of 2005. The second link is from that race he did not finish.
Click on thumbnail images for larger view.
http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_archive?id=9421807 - St Croix exerpt: Panimetro, the horse brought here to beat the two big horses from across the pond, finally looked liked a world beater in the feature race. The race, 1 mile for a purse of $4,000, was a twilight special. Because of a couple of long delays, the race went off after 6 p.m.
The race was all Panimetro. With Elmo Barnes in the irons, he took the lead at the club house turn and quickly opened up some seven lengths on the field as they ran down the back stretch. Hearts at Risk, with Miguel Sanchez aboard, put in his run as they entered the far turn, but he did not have enough to get Panimetro.
It was as if Barnes took his foot off the gas at the top of the stretch and Panimetro cruised to victory five lengths ahead of Hearts at Risk in a time of 1:38.4. El Chuso with Esail DeJesus aboard was a distant third.
http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_archive?id=11332129 - St Thomas exerpt:
Panimetro, with Elmo Barnes in the irons, looked strong coming out of the gate, jumping out to a two-length lead running on the inside, but seemed to get spooked as things tightened up coming out of the first turn and nearly careened into the rail before trotting off to the side of the track.
He had a significant fracture and a lot of soft tissue damage, but he was determined and so were we. He allowed the farrier and vet to work on him as he lay down…and Mother Nature took over. Almost a year and 1/2 later he was ready to make the trip to the continental US. He arrived in North Florida after quarantine on Puerto Rico and a flight to Florida and now he has the best life ever! He lives with a wonderful woman Teri Rehkopf and we are so happy for him. I now live close by and see him now and again. He is doing so well!! Can you send up pictures of him racing? He is so noble and a wonderful, wonderful horse. His leg was HUGE… just huge and he could not put any weight on it for a long time after the injury. Now, it is almost ‘normal’, but he has NO flexion in that joint He is happy and sound at walk and trot. He is just a happy, HAPPY horse and has a girlfriend named Rocki.
Tags: adoptive horses, Equine Assistance, Equine Protection, ex-racehorse, Horse Care, Metro, Panimetro, VICCTRE
