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Barbaro gets a new cast, positive update

By TIMES WIRES
Published October 11, 2006

KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. - Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro's right hind leg has a new cast, a new shoe and is healing well, while his left rear hoof is "gradually" improving from laminitis.

The cast was changed for the first time in six weeks, and Dr. Dean Richardson said Tuesday he was "pleased" with the progress in the leg that was shattered when Barbaro took a misstep at the start of the Preakness on May 20.

Barbaro's left hind foot, which had laminitis, continues its slow healing process.

"There is good growth along the quarters (closer to the heel) but there will need to be much more healing along the front of the hoof," Richardson said in an update issued by the University of Pennsylvania's George D. Widener Hospital. "We still have many months of healing ahead of us."

Barbaro had anesthesia before the cast change, and he had another pool recovery before his feet were trimmed and a new shoe was applied to his right hind leg. A few hours after recovery, Barbaro was out grazing and comfortable on both hind legs, the hospital statement said.

TENNIS

Nadal wins in return

Playing in his first ATP tour event since being eliminated in the U.S. Open quarterfinals in September, top-seeded Rafael Nadal beat Raemon Sluiter of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the Stockholm Open.

Nadal next faces wild-card Joachim Johansson .

"I have been practicing a lot at home on Mallorca to prepare for the end of the season," Nadal said.

FEDERER TURNS DOWN NADAL: Roger Federer, the top-ranked tennis player, declined an invitation from Nadal to form a doubles pairing at the Madrid Masters next week, the event organizer said. Federer is ranked 370th in doubles after winning three of six games with Swiss compatriot Yves Allegro this year to earn $10,300. "It was a nice idea," Federer said. "But I just never play doubles at the end of the season and if I did it would be with Yves."

KREMLIN CUP: Nikolay Davydenko blanked an ailing Jiri Vanek 6-0, 6-0, a 37-minute rout that sent the top-seeded Russian into the second round in Moscow. Vanek had back pain. Philipp Kohlschreiber upset third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny 6-2, 7-5, and fourth-seeded Fernando Verdasco retired while trailing Daniele Bracciali 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 0-1.

BA-CA TENNIS TROPHY: Defending champion Ivan Ljubicic defeated Agustin Calleri 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 in the first round in Vienna, Austria. He will play Florian Mayer in the second round. Second-seeded David Nalbandian beat Juan Ignacio Chela 6-7 (8-6), 6-2, 6-2. Nalbandian, who led 5-3 before wasting two first-set points in the tiebreaker, hit 27 baseline winners in his first match since his second-round exit at the U.S. Open last month. Sixth-seeded Tommy Haas needed six set points in the first set before defeating wild card Martin Fischer 7-6 (7-3), 6-2.

BANGKOK OPEN: Meghann Shaughnessy defeated an erratic Sania Mirza 6-4, 6-4 to reach the second round on a rainy day that forced several matches to be suspended in Thailand. Mirza double-faulted seven times and made repeated unforced errors with her backhand.

ET CETERA

soccer: Manchester City midfielder Joey Barton was fined $3,700 by English soccer's Football Association for dropping his shorts after a Premiership draw against Everton on Sept. 30. He had been taunted about his brother, Michael, who is serving a 17-year jail sentence for his part in the murder of a Liverpool teenager. ... North Korea pulled out of an international women's soccer competition this month in South Korea, citing a "complex" situation, organizers said, in an apparent reference to the country's nuclear test. North Korea had been scheduled to participate in the 2006 Peace Queen Cup Korea from Oct. 28-Nov. 4.

GOLF: Greg Norman and Nick Faldo will be one of 12 teams competing in the Merrill Lynch Shootout on Nov. 10-12. "We've enjoyed many battles over the years, and it will be a pleasure for us to be on the same side for once," said Norman, the host of the three-day event at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples. Annika Sorenstam will make her Shootout debut, teaming with Fred Couples. And in a partnership built on power, John Daly will play with J.B. Holmes. The defending champions are John Huston and Kenny Perry.

[Last modified October 11, 2006, 01:54:16]