Two horses, including one owned by Barbaro's owners, die on Preakness undercard

BALTIMORE - Ten years ago, Roy and Gretchen Jackson watched in horror from their box seats above the finish line at Pimlico as their Kentucky Derby winner, Barbaro, was running on three legs after his right rear leg shattered in the first few hundred yards of the Preakness.

Saturday afternoon, sitting in those same seats with horses running in three races on the Pimlico card, the Jacksons saw one of their horses finish third, another finish second, and a third, shielded from their view behind the infield tents, suffer a horrific leg injury and crash to the turf on the far turn.

Pramedya, a 4-year-old filly the Jacksons bred, could not be saved, her injury so devastating she had to be put down on the course. It was the second horse death of the day at Pimlico.

"It makes you wonder," Roy Jackson said.

Just to make it even more eerie, Pramedya broke through the gate prior to the start, just like Barbaro did before the 2006 Preakness, and then was led back into her stall, just like Barbaro.

According to Gretchen Jackson, Pramedya's trainer, Arnaud Delacour, said: "It wouldn't upset me if they scratched her." The race was won by Truly Together, trained by Michael Matz, Barbaro's trainer.

Pramedya was in the fourth race on the card. The Jacksons stayed to watch Aquaphobia run second in the sixth race, the James Murphy Stakes, and Exaggerated run third in the eighth race, the Very One Stakes. They did not stay for the Preakness.

"We're not that tough," Gretchen Jackson said.

Instead, they drove back to their Lael Farm in Chester County, just a few miles from the New Bolton Center, where Barbaro underwent surgery the day after that Preakness and survived for eight months before eventually having to be put down when he developed laminitis, a painful hoof disease that spread from his rear left leg to his front legs.

"You ask yourself, 'What are we doing in the game?' " Roy Jackson said right after the race. "It's so ironic. We both have not really taken it all in. We're still in shock."

Jockey Daniel Centeno suffered an apparent broken clavicle when Pramedya fell. The rider will recover in time. So might the Jacksons.

They were at Pimlico last year to see their Divining Rod run third behind American Pharoah in the Preakness. They have been back often to run horses at Pimlico with no issues.

"Maybe we just should not come to Pimlico," Gretchen Jackson said.

Earlier, 9-year-old Homeboykris died on the track of an apparent heart attack while heading back to the barn after winning the first race of the day. Homeboykris had been running in claiming races for some time, but won the 2009 Champagne Stakes and finished 16th in the 2010 Kentucky Derby.