Killed NYC Carriage Horse also Memorialized by Controversial Sculptor
NEW YORK, N.Y. — A statue of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro will be unveiled at the Central Park South location where a carriage horse was tragically killed last year. The unveiling will correspond with the introduction of a proposal titled Barbaro’s Law, urging the mandatory disclosure of race-related horse injuries and fatalities. “The Barbaro Memorial” by controversial sculptor Daniel Edwards, courtesy of Manhattan’s Leo Kesting Gallery, will be unveiled April 30th, the week of the 134th Kentucky Derby.
“The Barbaro Memorial” will depict the thoroughbred champion in the winner’s circle on his back with his number 8 saddle cloth draping his belly and hooves in the air, representing his inability to stand on his feet due to the debilitating laminitis which followed the shattered ankle he suffered in the 2006 Preakness Stakes.
Barbaro was put down for his injuries January 29th of last year. The Memorial’s website, www.BarbarosLaw.com, will provide images and an online petition urging Congress to pass a law that would arm consumers with the truth about the perils of horse racing by requiring racetracks to disclose race-related injury and fatality statistics.
“We feel Barbaro’s Law is sympathetic to recent efforts in horse protection legislation,” said gallery co-director, John Leo. Councilman Tony Avella drafted animal rights legislation that would ban New York’s horse-drawn carriages when carriage horse Smoothie died from running into a tree after being spooked by a street musician’s drum last September.
“Tourists might humanely pass on a carriage ride after knowing the plight of the carriage horse,” added Leo, who said the gallery will also exhibit a memorial statue of the fallen NYC carriage horse by Daniel Edwards at their gallery in Manhattan’s meat packing district.
Edwards’s previous sculptures include a nude Britney Spears giving birth on a bearskin rug, an interactive autopsy of Paris Hilton with removable organs, and a war dead Prince Harry clutching the cameo-locket of his late mother Princess Diana.
Leo Kesting Gallery is at 812 Washington St. in Manhattan. Contact David Kesting at 917-650-3760 or John Leo at 917-292-8865, or visit http://www.LeoKesting.com.
