Monday, June 2, 2008

Celebration of Barbaro's Life: Save the Date/Make Reservations

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The Celebration of Barbaro's Life is being held this year during one of the most prestigious racing weekends, at Delaware Park. July 12-13. Outstanding trainers, jockeys and owners will be in attendance, along with the "best of the best" race horses.

The Barbaro Stakes will be held  that day with Roy and Gretchen Jackson, of Lael Stable, (Barbaro's owners and breeders)  to present their trophy to the winner and jockey.

Last year, when the Barbaro Stakes race was getting ready to start, Sharon, the tireless lady who organized the event, noticed a show of fancy hats in honor of Barbaro. This tradition will be preserved and Fans of Barbaro  will be sporting their own hats. Many of the FOBs are getting quite creative with their fancy hats. Last year this celebration was held on Barbaro's birthday. See the wonderful slide show and get a peek at some of the fabulous hats worn,  which were featured on Animal Hubbub

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Sharon, who is also organizing the 2008 event announces but some of these fabulous events scheduled for the 2008 celebration:

The July 2008 festivities will be filled with a wide variety of exciting events both in Delaware and Pennsylvania.

Starting Friday night, July 11, in Kennett Square,Pennsylvania,  a music/Cajun festival will be held at 7:30 PM. Loads of FOBs will be attending. An artist will be present with his painting titled "Simply the Best". While not a Barbaro painting, ironically that is the phrase that has been chosen as the theme for Barbaro's Celebratory weekend.

Saturday, July 12, folks will be meeting at 7:30 AM to watch the horses breeze at the Fair Hill Training Center. Then off for a FOB horseback ride at Fair Hill. A picnic lunch will be held at Fair Hill then returning to Fairhill Training Center for a tour of the facility. FOB Sue Pizzini has invited the FOBs back to her home to spend some time with her Nokota horses.

Saturday night, the fundraiser begins at 7:00 PM until 10:00 PM at Timothy's in Newark, DE. There will be many interesting items up for auction, including paintings of Barbaro and Windchill. A surprise painting will be unveiled that is sure to touch each person's heart. At Sharon's request and with  the help of Moose,(Laminitis survivor) and paint  using the colors of  Lael Farm, (Barbaro's breeders) , Moose made a masterpiece which will be raffled off. 

moose_painting_the_barbaro_painting

All the horses at Tierra Madre Sanctuary of AZ put their work to canvas. That unique painting will be presented to the Jacksons in honor of Barbaro. All proceeds from the fund raiser will be divided between the Laminitis Fund at New Bolton, and Thoroughbred Horse Charities.

Sharon will be selling 132 Kentucky Derby Barbaro shirts and hats. Each item is $8.00, with $6.00 of that earmarked to be donated to the horse rescue of your choice and a Wiki page at Alex Brown Racing Forum.

The Celebration of Barbaro's Life will begin at noon in the Grove at Delaware racetrack. Admission and parking at the track is free. The beautiful grove is where the paddock is located, so you will always have either race horses or the lead ponies around you who would be more than delighted to be petted and offered horse treats. So bring those carrots and apples with you.

The number of folks who will be able to be fed at the Del park event  is limited to 300 all day eat and drink BBQ. Additional food options include bringing your own or taking advantage of the a la carte BBQ in the Grove.

Regardless of your food choice, you are permitted to be in the white party tent. The cost for  All day eat and drink BBQ is  $37.00 per adult, plus $5.00 per person for party supplies.  The cost for food for children under 12 is  $20.50 per child.

With so many things happening, it is indeed difficult to cover all of them. Del Park will not permit us to have a sound system due to the caliber of horses that will be racing on this day.

Bring your wallets! Many vendors will be attending as will representatives of several horse rescue organizations. There will be lots of fabulous things available for sale. Many of the FOBs also will be displaying their works.

ESPN will be broadcasting live for the entire day of racing. There will be celebrities in attendance as well as a crowd of over 20 thousand people.

Contact Sharon at: sharonsfun21@yahoo.com  for information and to make reservations.

Read more about this event by visiting the Bloodhorse Web site, which has featured the event.

Are you planning to attend this stellar event? Leave a comment and let us know. Some folks may wish to join you!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That sounds like a fantastic event. I can't wait to be there!

Sharon does some awesome organizing for sure!

See ya FOBs!!!

LA Nickers said...

Sounds like great fun!

Luvbarbaro said...

Such gorgeous photos of Barbaro!! :>)

It does sound like LOTS of fun, I'm going to try and attend, but we'll see.