Hi everyone,

Sorry to take so long to get this report off to you, but I was just too tired
last night to write.

It was a very successful week at Breeders Cup! 
All throughout Thursday, Friday and Saturday the table was almost constantly
busy with race goers asking questions about horse slaughter, signing up to help
with future action alerts, buying items in remembrance of Ferdinand&Exceller,
and making donations to help us get this horrible tragedy ended!

The thing I found most surprising, was that so many people, even those who
live right in the Dallas area, still had no idea that this was going on!
There were however many, many people who did know about horse slaughter and
who have been following our activities, taking action, and praying for the bill
to pass.

We actually had several people who were overcome by emotion that this was
happening to our countries beautiful horses, and in fact, were broken down to
tears over this American tragedy. For anyone who says that this is just "women
being emotional", you should know that these were men who cried inconsolably at
our table!    

We reached thousands of wonderful people who truly love and care for horses
and who are now aware of this disgusting practice and will be fighting this
battle along side the rest of us, when we resume in the new session!!  Many of
these people were horse owners from all over the country and actually from all
over the world!

Friday afternoon, the National Horse Protection Coalition held a press
conference (unfortunately, I missed it, as my plane arrived after this event) where
Liz Clancy Ross, Nick Zito, D.G. Van Clief, Corey Johnson and John Murrell
spoke of the efforts to end horse slaughter.
The press conference was an obvious success judging by the articles that were
published as a result of the event!!

On Friday evening, Dr. Gray and I did a sports radio show that was
broadcasting live from Lone Star. The show went great! We were able to get the word out
and dispel the false claims by the AAEP/AVMA regarding "unwanted" horses. We
pointed out to the show's listeners that in the first three weeks of October,
Cavel has IMPORTED 613 horses from Canada to slaughter. Now if we have so many
"unwanteds" in the US, why are the plants importing them from Canada?

We were also able to fire the DJ up who interviewed us, when he learned on
air of Goodlatte's apparent disregard for the democratic process of our county! 
He was stunned and angry that a supposed "representative" of the people was
single handedly denying the will of the people, by blocking the AHSPA in his
committee!  He has promised to try to book Goodlatte on the show and will have 
Dr, Gray and me on the show again as well. The show is called At the Races and
Beyond and it airs weekly in Florida. You can listen in at
www.attheracesandbeyond.com   

Other terrific connections were made at Breeders Cup as well!  I was
fortunate enough to meet several very wonderful and notable Thoroughbred breeders who
are dedicated helping us end this!   

Also present at BC was Mr. Jim Gowen from the Thoroughbred Racing Protective
Bureau. I have had email and phone correspondence with Jim in the past, but
this was our very first meeting. Jim was good enough to actually seek us out in
order to talk to me about the ID plan. Jim  is the only member on the equine
ID plan task force who is opposing the plan! 
He has been stalwart in his opposition to this nonsense and assured me, that
he would continue his fight to educate others, particularly those in the
racing industry, of this ill-conceived plan for our horses!  

The girls at Lone Star were all fabulous and it was so wonderful to finally
meet everyone!
Everyone worked so hard and did such an excellent job the entire time we were
there!

I want to thank Vivian Farrell (the Fund for Horses) for inviting me and for
doing such a fabulous job pulling this event all together! And also, a special
thanks to all the wonderful people who helped man the table, Dr. Lydia Gray
(Hoofed Animal Humane Society),
Anne Coller & Cile Holloway (Texas Humane Legislative Network), Nancy Scott
(CANTER Ohio), Shelley Sawhook (American Horse Defense Fund), Kelly Young (Lost
and Found Rescue), Pam Bertsch (Fund for Horses), and Sherillyn Flick
(www.justsaywhoa.org).
Sorry we did not get much time to visit, Sherillyn!  I am sure we will meet
again one day soon!
Of course, we could not possibly have done this event without the wonderful
support of the Breeders Cup, Lone Star Park and Magna Entertainment
Corporation! Our deepest gratitude to the people of these organizations for all the help
and support you gave to our efforts throughout the entire Breeders Cup week! 
The folks at Lone Star treated us like "family" and went out of their way to
do everything needed in order to help us make this event a tremendous success! 
 

In Illinois, at Hawthorne Racecourse, the "sister" BC event was an
overwhelming success as well!  The girls there did a fabulous job!  Horsin Around TV
filmed tons of footage including a very lengthy interview with State Rep. Bob
Molaro who was on hand enjoying the races. Rep. Molaro stated his dedication to
doing whatever was necessary to get this IL bill passed this next session! 
From what I understand, Bob was quite determined to see to it that this bill will
be a law very, very soon!
Horsin Around also interviewed, trainers, owners, and race goers as to their
feelings on this horrible business operating in our state and will air the show
next Saturday at 5:50 and 10:30 am on Fox Sports Network Chicago!

The girls at Hawthorne were very successful in raising awareness and taking
in donations to help us get these bills passed!

I cant thank Mandi and Joe Kristufek (Horsin Around TV), Liane Davis
(reporter, Horsin Around), Jan Ely (Director IL TB Horsemen's Assc.), and Janine
Starykowitcz (www.barntowire.com) enough for the tremendous job they did at
Hawthorne!! I would also like to thank Thomas Carey III (President Hawthorne
Racecourse) for his continued support of our efforts, and for allowing us  to have our
table at Hawthorne! 

Something most fabulous I was not at liberty to disclose until now, was the
amazing support of our efforts by Churchill Downs Inc.(CDI). CDI owns 7
racetracks including Churchill and Arlington Park, and also owns 22 off track
wagering facilities.

During pre BC negotiations with CDI  to allow us to table at their
facilities, CDI came up with an even more magnanimous offer.....CDI offered to run an
anti-slaughter advertisement in the racing programs of all 29 of their racing
venues on Breeders Cup day!!  This was an outstanding offer! In fact, CDI has
taken that one step further and will be running the ad  in their programs for
the remainder of the fall racing season! This is going to help us tremendously!
We could never afford the expense of this type of advertisement, so I am sure
you will all agree that this is a most generous and needed addition to our
effort!  I have attached the ad for you to view. For the againstslaughter board,
I have uploaded the file to the file sections of the board! 

Oh, by the way....the same ad was adapted to use in all IL racing venues
(added the Hawthorne support and logo) and OTB's on BC day!  Hawthorne has also
promised to run the ad as often as possible! 

In closing, this has been a wonderful experience, and I leave this feeling
confident that because of the overwhelming support that the horse industry and
the American people have for ending horse slaughter in our country, we will see
the AHSPA passed in this next session! We still have much work to do, but I
know we will do what needs to be done to see this through, and thanks to the
overwhelming support of so many dedicated groups and individuals, we will see
these foreign butchers closed down for good......and SOON!! 

Most importantly, I want to thank all of you wonderful friends who worked so
hard behind the scenes to help to make this event such a success! Without all
of you and your tireless efforts, absolutely none of this would have ever
happened!  Much love and appreciation to all of you who give so much of yourselves
each and every day....for the horses!

Gail Vacca
DeKalb, Illinois