Lexington, KY – August 12, 2009 – Kentucky Horse Shows LLC, the management company for many of the hunter/jumper competitions held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, recently hosted the Kentucky Summer Horse Shows and the 2009 USEF Pony Finals. In addition, the first week of the Kentucky Summer Horse Shows ran concurrently with the North American Junior/Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC), a separate event that was organized by the United States Equestrian Federation. In upcoming weeks, Kentucky Horse Shows LLC will host the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show and the KHJA Horse Show.

In addition to the building of the New Outdoor Stadium, the Kentucky Horse Park has undergone many improvements for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games and future events at the park. Recently Kentucky Horse Shows LLC resurfaced the footing in the main hunter ring and the large hunter schooling ring. The new state-of-the-art footing is a high-tech surface designed by the German company OTTO Sport- und Reitplatz GmbH.

Last year, the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation installed the OTTO Sport footing in the Walnut Ring and its warm-up area, which significantly improved the competition for jumper riders. With top of the line footing in the hunter and jumper rings, Kentucky Horse Shows provide exhibitors with a stellar show experience regardless of weather conditions.

Hugh Kincannon, manager of Kentucky Horse Shows LLC, commented, “I think our summer shows have been great, with the exception of the fact that we’ve had a lot of rain. Fortunately we are able to cope with that because of the OTTO Sport footing, which is in about 70 percent of the rings here. Basically, we never missed a beat. I heard that a lot of venues throughout the world had trouble with weather and were not able to continue to show; I’m very happy to say that we didn’t have that problem.”

He added, “Last week, during Pony Finals, we had the worst storm I have ever seen come through here. It was terrible and actually quite scary. Even though it flooded the original indoor arena with about six inches of water, our crew was able to put everything back together and resume competition. We were able to have a client auction in there the next day, and the pony jumper divisions showed in there for the rest of the week. The OTTO Sport rings obviously had no problem with the rain, and they held up as they always do.”

“As a whole, the Pony Finals were extremely successful. We were up about 15 percent in entries, which is startling to me in this economy,” he related. “Even with the number of entries and the rain, we adjusted the schedule and everything worked out really well.
I think it was the best Pony Finals we’ve had yet.”

After many recent improvements at the park, Kincannon is pleased with the positive feedback he receives from competitors. Some areas, such as road construction and parking, are currently under construction. He smiled, “I think, when people look at what we have here now and think of what it will be when it’s done, after the World Equestrian Games have finished, it will be the best horse show facility in the world.”

Earlier this month, the $40,000 Kentucky Classic Grand Prix sponsored by Air 51 and Audi of Lexington welcomed a large crowd of spectators. “I think that was the best grand prix we’ve ever had here,” Kincannon noted. “We had about 2,500 people here watching, and it was a very enthusiastic crowd under the lights. Fortunately we are able to have a number of grand prix classes under lights, which is something I love to do. It gives other exhibitors the opportunity to finish their day and come up and watch the show jumping. Here it really is on the big stage at this venue. Performances of the horses and the riders seem to improve in the big stadium, especially at night.”

Recently the newly built indoor arena, the second indoor arena at the park, hosted test events for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games for the disciplines of reining and vaulting. Kincannon is thrilled with the results and responses from competitors, and he is excited about installing the OTTO-Sport footing system in this new indoor facility.

The new arena will host its very first grand prix on September 18, 2009. The $50,000 CSI-W Lexington Grand Prix, which is a World Cup Qualifier and the final class in the Hagyard Challenge Series, will be held at the Kentucky National Indoor Horse Show.

In addition to the positive feedback from competitors at the Kentucky Horse Shows, riders who attended the North American Junior/Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC) were also pleased with their experience at the park.

“I thought it was a wonderful event,” said Kincannon of NAJYRC. “The team competition on Friday night, which was under lights, was really good. Ever since the competition left Chicago, where Howard Simpson did such a great job with it, I’ve always felt that it should be here,” he explained. “And now, I think there is no other venue in the world that can offer what we offer.”

Upcoming events at the Horse Park include the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show, which will be held from August 12-16, 2009. This competition offers free admission for “Hats Off Day” and the Rood and Riddle Grand Prix. The KHJA Horse Show, scheduled for the week of August 19-23, 2009, will host the first $100,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby Finals.