This week is one of the most exciting in the
world of Eventing. At the Kentucky Horse
Park in Lexington Kentucky, the Rolex CCI****(four star) event is being
held! It is the only four star (****)
event in the Western Hemisphere. This
very prestigious show is an eventing competition held at the same level as
Eventing in the Olympics. $80,000.00
dollars is awarded to the first place winner along with a Rolex watch. A total purse of $250,000 dollars is awarded
to top winning riders. The show is four
days long, and because so many riders participate, the dressage competition
begins on Thursday and goes through Friday, with Saturday being the
cross-country day, and Sunday is the show-jumping competition.
How did this event begin? In 1974 the U.S. won the individual (Bruce
Davidson) and team gold in the World Championships. This gave the honor of holding the world
championships to the United States. In
1978 The Kentucky Horse Park was planning to open, and it was the perfect venue
for the World Championships.
More than 170,000 spectators attended, and the
event was broadcast worldwide. Because
the event was such a success, and was economically stimulating for the local
economy, it was quickly decided that it should become an annual event. Today it is broadcast in over 18 languages
and reaches millions of people.
RevitaVet is the proud sponsor of these Rolex riders: Phillip Dutton, Buck Davidson, Sally Cousins, James Alliston, Hawley Bennett-Awad, Allie Knowles, Katie Ruppel and Becky Holder.
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