Scientists might have a chance to autopsy the body of the champion Saddlebred euthanized July 17, 2003, and buried following a brutal attack that left him too lame to stand. Four other Saddlebreds were injected in the same attack with a necrotizing substance in their left forelegs, and only two of the five survived (see www.TheHorse.com/sbreds for more information). According to the deceased animal’s owner, Sally Jackson of Overland Park, Kan., and Lexington, Ky., lawyers are getting ready to file a federal court order on her behalf to exhume the body of Wild Eyed and Wicked from its burial site on Double D Ranch in Versailles, Ky.

“We had signed a paper to have him exhumed and autopsied the day he was buried,” says Jackson. “Since then, we have still wanted to have him exhumed and autopsied. We’re going to have to ask the court to order it, since (the owners of the ranch, Dena and Dave Lopez) have refused. We had hoped that they would have agreed and cooperated.”

Dena Lopez was contacted regarding the possible court order. She chose not to comment when asked about reports of resistance to the exhumation requests. However, she said that a year following the attacks, “The only way I’m ever going to put any closure on it is when the people are caught. It’s obviously an ongoing investigation. It’s been a very tough year, a very tough year.”

Jackson currently cannot disclose at what institution or by whom the body will be autopsied. “Some scientists and researchers have told us they think they can determine something, she says, adding that the body would be carefully exhumed, and that scientists will especially make sure that the bones in the attacked leg remain intact, “like they would in an anthropology study. This will ensure that all that’s left of the leg can be studied