Barbi Moline Wins 2010 Dogwood Dominion Award

FYI: Barbi is the AAHS state coordinator for Florida. Bravo, Barbi!!

Barbi Moline Wins 2010 Dogwood Dominion Award
A longtime horse rescuer – who in the past year alone has saved 105 Thoroughbreds and initiated ongoing programs at Calder and Gulfstream to help fund a much-needed horse rescue organization in a key racing state – is this year’s winner of the Dogwood Dominion Award, it has been announced by Dogwood President W. Cothran “Cot” Campbell.

Barbi Moline is the Intake Director for Florida Thoroughbred Rehab and Placement, a division of Pure Thoughts Horse Rescue. Not only has Barbi saved over a hundred Thoroughbreds from the threat of slaughter, but she spearheaded a plan to fund this rescue organization by working with the FHBPA and the local jockey colony.
As the 18th recipient of the Dogwood Dominion Award, which annually honors one of racing’s “unsung heroes,” Barbi will receive $5,000 and a bronze statue of Dominion at a luncheon at the Reading Rooms in Saratoga Springs, New York, on July 28. Barbi was selected from over 30 nominations by judges Anne Campbell, Jay Hovdey and Todd Pletcher.

“In a time when the plight of unwanted horses has reached all corners of our industry and can no longer be ignored, individuals such as Barbi Moline have stepped up to the plate – working tirelessly and with a knack for ingenuity – to save Thoroughbreds from slaughter while giving them a chance at a second career,” said Campbell. “Working in unison with the local FHBPA, Barbi negotiated a plan which allowed the rescue organization to receive one-third of one-percent of the purse money of the first, second and third-place finishers at Calder and Gulfstream. The jockeys at these tracks also agreed to give $1 per mount to help fund the program.”

Barbi saved her first Thoroughbred 16 years ago, but quickly accomplished much more after she began volunteering with Pure Thoughts Horse Rescue in 2005. While that organization rescues all breeds, it was evident that a special division would be needed for all the Thoroughbreds who were being saved from the slaughter pens. With no program in place at the Florida race tracks to offer homes and rehab for ex-racehorses, many of these horses were simply being sent to auction and in most cases to an ignoble death. The scenario changed in 2009, when the Florida Thoroughbred Rehab and Placement division was born. With volunteers working at both Calder and Gulfstream, and many fostering farms located near Miami, horsemen now had an option for their horses. Barbi was named the intake director and immediately set about finding funding for the fledgling program. She secured grants from the Thoroughbred Charities of America and Blue Horse Charities, but the program’s biggest breakthrough came when the horsemen and jockeys agreed to donate money from purses and from riders’ fees. The program has also been supported by track management at Calder and Gulfstream.

The Dogwood Dominion Award was inspired by the multiple stakes winner Dominion, who was campaigned by Dogwood in the 1970s and went on to become five-time Champion Sire in England. It was created upon his death in 1993 to recognize the unsung heroes in the racing industry. Former winners are H.W. “Salty” Roberts, Howard “Gelo” Hall, Peggy Sprinkles, Grace Belcuore, Nick Caras, Donald “Peanut Butter” Brown, Danny Perlsweig, Katherine Todd Smith, Julian “Buck” Wheat, Jim Greene and Shirley Edwards, Neftali “Junior” Gutierrez, Pam Berg, Jo Anne Normile, Pete Lizarzaburu, Phyllis Shetron, Vincent Garibaldi, and Mary Lee-Butte.
Past honorees, friends and family of the 2010 winner, and various racing enthusiasts and industry leaders will attend the Dogwood sponsored luncheon at Saratoga.


Website:
http://www.dogwoodstable.com/dominion-award.shtml

Bravo, Barbi, and THANK YOU for all that you do!

In honor of this recognition of Barbi's tireless efforts for horses, I'm making a contribution to a horse rescue on her behalf. Please join me in bettering horse welfare by doing the same for the rescue of your choice.

Kathryn Webers
Massachusetts State Coordinator, Americans Against Horse Slaughter
http://massachusettsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/
http://www.americansagainsthorseslaughter.com/
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