Commerce Cabinet
KET Presents Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event Highlights Show On July 29

Each year, one of the world’s most prestigious equestrian sports events takes place at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Highlights from the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, which brings together some of the greatest horses and riders from around the world, are presented in Rolex Equestrian Championships 2006, airing Saturday, July 29 at 10p.m. ET on KET1.

This year’s event took place April 27-30, and the program originally aired May 7 on NBC. “The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event showcases the finest in equestrian sportsmanship and receives international attention for Lexington and the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” said John Nicholson, Executive Director of the Kentucky Horse Park.

The Three-Day Event is a complete test of horse and rider, and no other equestrian sport tests the horse so completely. The first day of competition consists of the dressage test, which is an evaluation of beauty of movement and obedience. On the second day, horses compete in the cross-country test, which proves the speed, stamina, courage, boldness and jumping ability of the horse and the rider’s knowledge of pace and use of the horse across country. The competition concludes with jumping in an arena, the final test of the horse’s athletic ability, conditioning and training.

The rebroadcast of this program is made possible due to the courtesy of NBC Sports and its Kentucky affiliates: WLEX-TV/Lexington, WNKY-TV/Bowling Green, WPSD/Paducah and WAVE-TV/Louisville.

The Kentucky Horse Park will be home to The Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010. The Games are the world championships of the eight equestrian disciplines recognized by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), and are held every four years.  The Games have never before been held outside of Europe nor have they ever all been held together at a single site; both firsts that the Kentucky Horse Park will achieve.  The 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games will be held in Aachen, Germany and run from late August to early September.  Approximately 800 athletes and 875 horses are expected to compete there. The Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky is expected to sell more than 500,000 tickets and have an economic impact of more than $150 million.

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