After two years, horse sport fans flooding back to Kentucky for ‘best weekend all year’
For the last two years, Kentucky’s signature equestrian event, the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event, has been awash with uncertainty. The 2020 event was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic and the 2021 event, which was almost scrapped as well, was held without fans.
But not this year.
With COVID at low levels, ticket sales are at record levels, according to event organizers. Almost 80,000 fans are expected to watch about 100 horse and rider combinations compete over four days at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.
Among them will be Lexington native Woods Baughman, who will be riding his first five-star competition (the highest level) on C’est La Vie. At 26, he’ll be the youngest rider in the field but has been moving up the ranks steadily in recent years.
He’ll be going up against some of the top riders from the U.S., Australia, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Mexico and New Zealand. Another 50 horse and rider combinations will be competing in a separate four-star eventing competition held at the same time.
The five-star riders will be competing for their share of $375,000 in prize money as well as a shot at the $350,000 Grand Slam of Eventing. That title is awarded to any rider who wins the Land Rover Kentucky as well as the Badminton and Land Rover Burghley five-star events in England in succession.
Top Kentucky Three-Day Event riders
One rider who won’t be in Lexington is Oliver Townend, the top-ranked rider in the world at the moment. He won the five-star Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event last year and in 2019 and 2018 but is staying in Great Britain this year.
But top German rider Michael Jung, who also has won the Kentucky five-star three times and is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, will be here. Jung and Great Britain’s Pippa Funnell are the only riders who have ever won the Grand Slam and they will be riding against each other in Kentucky for the first time this year.
Others to watch for include previous Kentucky Three-Day Event winner and Olympic gold medalist Phillip Dutton as well as Jonelle Price of New Zealand, who is the No. 2 rider in the world according to FEI standings.
What is the Kentucky Three-Day Event?
The three-day event is sometimes called the triathlon of the equestrian world because riders navigate through three demanding disciplines — dressage, cross-country and stadium jumping — on one horse.
The annual competition, which had been held in Lexington since 1978 before the 2020 version was canceled, was previously known as the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event for many years.
This year, 16 of the horses scheduled to compete are Thoroughbreds, including four who were auctioned at Keeneland and a dozen who raced somewhere in the world at least once.
The Kentucky Three-Day event begins with the four-star dressage competition in the morning and five-star dressage in the afternoon on Thursday and Friday. Cross-country competition begins Saturday at 9 a.m. Competition concludes Sunday with four-star stadium jumping beginning at 11 a.m. and five-star jumping starting at 2:30 p.m.
The weekend is billed at “the best weekend all year” for fans of equestrian sports, who come from all over the world to walk the miles-long course to see favorite riders and horses taking on elaborate mammoth jumps, sometimes into water.
Also taking place Saturday is the Kentucky Invitational, a three-star Grand Prix show-jumping competition that draws major riders in that sport.
The Kentucky Three-Day Event also includes demonstrations of equestrian interest as well as a trade fair with nearly 200 vendors. Wren Blae Zimmerman, a blind jumper who lives in Lexington, will demonstrate the emerging sport of para jumping.
Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event
When: Thursday through Sunday
Where: Kentucky Horse Park, 4089 Iron Works Pike
Online: Kentuckythreedayevent.com
Tickets: Grounds admission is free for kids 12 and under. For those 13 and up, grounds admission, which does not include stadium seating, is $25 on Thursday and Friday, $48 on Saturday, and $45 on Sunday. Seating in Rolex Stadium is $21-$25 on Thursday and Friday. Stadium seating is $60-$66 for Sunday. Multi-day passes also are available online. Grand Prix tickets are $10. Parking is included in all tickets, which are available online or at the gate.
