MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS® Joins LOPE Texas for Annual Benefit Horse Show

(Cedar Creek, Texas - August 7, 2011) - MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS® is teaming up with LOPE (LoneStar Outreach to Place Ex-Racers) on September 17th for a very special auction fundraiser to benefit LOPE of Cedar Creek, Texas. MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS® is committed to racehorse welfare and milliner Sally Faith Steinmann of MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS® has created a one-of-a-kind couture Derby hat for the silent auction with 100% of the proceeds to benefit LOPE.

Under the direction of Executive Director Lynn Reardon, LOPE is the largest racehorse adoption service in Texas. Since 2003, LOPE has found new homes and vocations for over 800 racehorses whose racing days had ended.

The unique Derby hat auction will open for online bidding on September 5, 2011 and then culminate with live bidding at LOPE’s Benefit Horse Show at Hy Court Farm on Sept 17, 2011. It will feature a custom Derby hat design that has been created by Sally Faith Steinmann to honor the beauty and spirit of Wooden Phone, the most famous horse at LOPE. Wooden Phone is best known in the racing world as the horse who defeated the great Hall of Famer and Horse of the Year Tiznow in the 2001 $500,000 Strub Stakes.

Reardon describes Wooden Phone as “a truly classic racehorse -- he loved to run and had a competitive heart so much bigger than his pedigree or conformation would have predicted."

“LOPE is thrilled to offer such a beautiful and elegant tribute to Wooden Phone as part of our silent auction event this year,” said Reardon. “We are so grateful for the assistance of generous donors like MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS® and Sally Faith Steinmann. With their support, we are raising both funds for and public awareness of these magnificent equine athletes!”