When a swarming throng of media members ascended on the George D. Widener Hospital for Larger Animals on the Sunday after the race, the staff realized they also were supervising the recovery of a media darling, one that captured attention of the country and attracted thousands of cards and expressions of sympathy.

"He's got a big personality, he's feisty," said George D. Widener Hospital Executive Director Corinne Sweeney, D.V.M. "I saw him in the stall [Thursday morning] with Dr. Richardson [chief surgeon at Penn's veterinary school] and he actually was bucking for fun—you know those kind of horses—and he is moving around his stall all the time.

"The good news is, and we knew by all accounts that was his personality, that shows you that he's feeling pretty good," Sweeney continued. "He does not act like he knows that he has a badly fractured leg that's in a cast. He shows no indication that he's aware of it."

In fact, Barbaro was so unfazed by the cast that extended from just below the hock on his right hind leg down over his entire hoof that a few days after the surgery he was seen scratching his ear with his opposite hoof while bearing much of his weight on his injured leg.

Barbaro endured a five-hour operation to repair a dislocated fetlock, a fractured cannon bone, a fractured sesamoid, and the long pastern bone shattered into more than 20 pieces—a procedure that required 27 screws and a locking compression plate to stabilize the joint.

"I marvel, that's an athletic maneuver for any normal horse," Sweeney said. "Here he was showing that he was more than willing to stand on any one of his legs and on the repaired leg and take his good hind leg to scratch his ear.

"I think some of that can be attributed to the fact that he is very athletic," Sweeney continued. "He was the Derby winner and, maybe the Preakness and Belmont [Stakes (G1)] winner. He is an elite athlete and he's shown that even during his recovery. It shows the he is willing to stand on all four legs, including the fractured leg."

The strapping dark bay or brown Dynaformer colt thoroughly enjoys the extra attention in the intensive care unit, especially the treats, such as mints, apples, and carrots that arrive daily from his fans.