Photo by Lorraine Jackson
As the global equestrian community awaits a decision on the location of the 2018 World Equestrian Games, the Kentucky Horse Park has announced its intent to bid for the 2022 Games, the Lexington Herald-Leader confirmed.
The Kentucky Horse Park successfully hosted the 2010 WEG and also bid to host the 2018 Games, losing out to Bromont due to a commercial conflict between Rolex, a key horse park sponsor, and Longines, the official timekeeper of the FEI. Rolex’s naming rights to the horse park’s main stadium expire in 2019, which would open the doors for WEG to once again return to Lexington.
It would also leave the Kentucky Horse Park without a longtime partner in Rolex, though horse park commission chairwoman Tandy Patrick told the Herald-Leader they would hope to find another role at the park for the watchmaker if the sponsorship is not renewed.
The FEI will inform the Kentucky Horse Park in December if the venue makes the short list of host sites that will be invited to formally bid.
Meanwhile, the FEI has yet to confirm the location of the 2018 Games following Bromont’s contract termination in July. The FEI confirmed to EN last month that both Tryon International Equestrian Center in North Carolina and Samorin Equestrian Centre in Slovakia are under consideration as a replacement host venue.
[Kentucky Horse Park applies to host 2022 World Equestrian Games]
