Come hear what our beloved Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event cross-country course designer has in store for us this year on Thursday, April 13, 2022 at 7 p.m. CDT! Join Eric Dierks in a livestream interview with one of the world's most sought-after cross-country course designers. Listen in on how Derek puts his imagination behind his courses and what he hopes to achieve while competitors navigate their way around his challenging, thought-provoking tracks. He may even share some secrets he has planned for this year's Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event!
Biography
Derek di Grazia is an American cross-country course-designer who has been responsible for the five-star course at the Kentucky Three-Day Event since 2011 and for the track at Burghley Horse Trials. He was also the designer for the track at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Like many course-designers, Derek has ridden at the top level—he won Kentucky in 1985 on Sasquatch in the days before star classification when it was simply an international advanced three-day event.
Let the fun and games begin! This morning kicks off the official start of competition at the 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event (K3DE). The hefty four-star field is the first to set foot in the Rolex Stadium starting at 8:00 a.m. Last year we saw 49 four-star pairs in this division, but this year there are 63 pairs in the field.
Thirty-five five-star horses presented today under sunny skies at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event.
If all goes according to plan in the first part of the extended weekend, we will see 36 horses galloping across Derek di Grazia's CCI5*-L cross-country course at the 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event (DK3DE). We partnered up with the team at CrossCountry App to bring you a preview of both the five-star and CCI4*-s tracks this year.
Lights, cameras, action! The first formal horse inspection (which some might informally refer to as "the jog") at the 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event (K3DE) takes place this afternoon at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. While this part of the event is a fan-favorite historically based on the impeccable turnout of the horses and the stylish and forward fashion choices of the riders (we are looking at you Boyd Martin in hopes that you bring back the American flag suit circa 2022), it serves a very important purpose: ensuring that each horse is fit, sound, and ready to compete at the five-star level.