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Survivors fight for lives after Chesco stable fire

Neville Bardos was being groomed for the 2012 Olympics. Now the horse, one of five rescued from a barn blaze in Chester County early Tuesday, is in intensive care, receiving oxygen and fighting for his life at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center, in Kennett Square.

Neville Bardos was being groomed for the 2012 Olympics.

Now the horse, one of five rescued from a barn blaze in Chester County early Tuesday, is in intensive care, receiving oxygen and fighting for his life at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center, in Kennett Square.

As the last horse out, Neville Bardos suffered significant smoke inhalation, according to the equine's trainer.

Six thoroughbreds, all of them in training by Boyd Martin, an internationally known trainer and competitor, were killed in a 12:30 a.m. fire at the True Prospect Farm, near West Grove.

Another of the surviving horses, Catch a Star, is in intensive care with burns "which cover a great deal of her body," Martin's spokeswoman, Amber Heintzberger, said yesterday.

A third horse, Minotaure du Passoir, is also in intensive care with smoke inhalation. The two other survivors are in the general hospital population receiving fluids, Heintzberger said that Martin had told her.

Martin in his blog yesterday said he believed that all the horses would live. He also described how Philip Dutton, the barn's owner, "assisted me in dragging out Neville when the inferno was raging and we ignored the orders of the fire chief to not go into the barn."

Martin was part owner of Neville Bardos and Otis Barbotiere, another of the rescued horses.