Be sure to check out the rest of the article along with all the photos in the upcoming issue of the magazine!
For everyone from Equestrian Events, Inc. all roads lead to 2010 and the Kentucky FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG). The difficulties of simultaneously planning four events, while utilizing space and facilities that will also be used by other disciplines might seem daunting, but the team of Jane Atkinson (USA), Mike Etherington-Smith (GB), and Mick Costello (USA) are up to the task.
The Organizer
As Rolex 2008 fast approaches, Atkinson has decided this year’s competition calls for a celebration. This competition marks the 30-year anniversary of the World Eventing Championship held at the Kentucky Horse Park in 1978. This also marks the 30-year anniversary of the Kentucky Horse Park. The idea was started when Desiree Smith Johnson, who rode Foxy in the 1978 World Championships told Atkinson she was coming back for 2008.
“We’re having what I call a 30-year retrospective. I’m not calling it an anniversary because we don’t have one every year. We’re inviting all of the U.S. competitors that were on the 1978 team to come back. We’ll do something at our cocktail party. I’ve taken the film (of 1978) and sent it out to have a commemorative DVD made.”
For Atkinson, the fun will be in the reunion and commemorative awards. “We have Bruce Davidson who won in 1978, Jimmy Wofford, Ralph Hill, and Mike Huber who was the youngest at only sixteen years old! There were a lot of young people. Some have gone on in the sport and some who are doing other things. So, it’s going to be neat.”
In order to thank some of the event volunteers who have given so much of their time and energy for so long, Atkinson plans a tangible gesture of appreciation. “There have been some people who have been involved with us since 1978, consecutively. So, on Sunday I’m going to recognize those people who were here in seventy-eight and are still associated with the event.” She has commissioned commemorative stoneware julep cups from Louisville Stoneware (the same supplier for the 1978 Championships), which will read Kentucky Three-Day Event, 30th Anniversary. Since the Kentucky Three-Day Event was prior to Rolex Watch’s involvement in the competition, the Rolex name and the familiar stars will be absent from this memento.
Another new award comes at the suggestion of Karen O’Connor; Atkinson is initiating the Kentucky Cup, commissioning another piece of Louisville Stoneware that will commemorate a competitor’s completion of the event five, ten, fifteen, twenty or more times, with a competitor possibly receiving multiple cups at the same event.
On Sunday, there will also be a four-footed honoree, as Winsome Adante, the only three-time back-to-back winner of the event, will be officially retired during a ceremony at half-time.
As Rolex Kentucky 2008 draws near, there is still one issue that has yet to be decided —that of an Olympic prep division—The Champions Showcase—being run during this year’s competition. The jury is still out and Jane Atkinson feels that the long course is a much better option to prep horses for the 2008 Olympics with Mike Etherington-Smith as course designer for both. However one part of the mission of organizer EEI is to provide a venue for the training, testing, and selection of U.S. teams for other international competitions. “EEI has always done what the national federation has asked. While there have been several riders who have expressed interest, as of this date, no decision has been reached,” says Atkinson.
The Designer
(Right: Construction on the new indoor for the WEG.)
“This is like a cocktail of events between now and WEG. You see, from my point of view, I’m looking at WEG and working backwards from that, while trying not to share too much of what I’m thinking about for WEG. I’m also trying to come up with some new lines, some new routes, and a new feel for 2010. So basically, all roads are leading to that, and in order to come up with something, obviously, the challenge is to produce the competition for 2010 in April, then change it for September, and, in doing that, I’ve also got to keep a little bit up my sleeve. At the moment we’re planning things like earthworks that will have to be done this summer to resettle for 2010.”
Another thing that figures heavily into the plan for this year’s competition is the design and space allocation for 2010. Richard Nicoll, Chairman of the FEI Driving Technical Committee and Course Designer for the 2010 WEG Combined Driving Competition, paid a visit to the Horse Park during one of Etherington-Smith’s visits earlier this year. The two designers are looking ahead towards 2010, working together as they plan their respective competition venues, which
(Right: Mike E-S plans with course builders Mick Costello & Aaron Rust).
This juggling act, deftly preformed by the world’s pre-eminent eventing course designer, must also include final preparations for the August 2008 Hong Kong Olympic Games. When one looks at this very full plate, it is little wonder that Etherington-Smith is also planning his own retirement from international design, scheduled to commence following WEG Kentucky.
The Builder
For course builder Mick Costello the challenges of preparing for the coming competitions continue long past the 2008 event. There are old issues to be continuously dealt with and new ones lurking in the background.
One key issue remains the same: “We’ve got a huge amount of work on the footing, but the footing is a perpetual challenge,” says Costello. Along with his team, Costello works continually on the course. Recently, some reinforcements have arrived. The Park has added a new landscaper. “All of the fields we use have been plugged and aerated recently, which is wonderful. Due to the Kentucky budget crunch, there is little money to seed or anything else, but they’ve come from the golf course world, and have actually taken an interest in the fields. They’ve cleaned up the hedges in the infield, and the trees have all been trimmed. It’s nice. We haven’t had that before," says Costello, smiling.
“This is a multi-use facility. But I’m getting a new Aggravator® this year with a roller on the back, so I can fluff and roll with one shot, which will be interesting. It can fluff at six inches, but you can set the roller at different heights, so it will smooth it as well.”
In preparation for WEG, Costello plans work in many areas of the track. “We’re making a couple of changes after this year’s event. We’re making a hill, and making The Hollow a little bigger on the bottom…pushing it out to the far side, towards the paddock, and that’s more for the drivers than for us. We had a driving event in October and it was very tight. He (Richard Nicoll) wants some more room on the floor in there, and it doesn’t hurt us, so we’re going to do that. He also wants a big hill so they can have a spectacular entrance to a hazard and, since it’s right next to where we are developing a little section of our own for the future, we’re going to do that as well. We’re trying to tie all of those things together.”
The Moguls is another collaborative eventing/driving project that won’t be used this year. “It’s just some groundwork I started last year when we built The Sunken Road and put the (dirt) spoils in piles. It started looking like The Mid-Evil Village from Burghley; just little whoop-de-dos, little piled moguls. I thought I might improve on them, and Mike sort of gave me the dimensions and slopes, and we’ll work from there. I had dirt I just added to it from the road projects and whatever else. It’s nice to have time to do that.”
The park does not plan to limit horse show activity until 2010, other than perhaps containing the size of events. Therefore, Costello and his crew will have to work around these activities, endeavoring to cause as little physical disruption as possible during the busy park show season.
After the spring event in 2010, the course will be roped off. Some may be roped off before depending on what is in the works and where. “It will have to be all planned well before Rolex of 2010 because it will have to be a well-oiled machine to turn it around,” states Costello.
The Course
“I think the flow’s just a little different this year,” says Etherington-Smith. “It’s not dramatic because I’ve had to rewind some of the things, or slow down some of the things I was going to do, which is kind of difficult because you see things and you want to do them, so I’m keeping them up my sleeve until 2010.”
Etherington-Smith feels the riders will have to get into the course a little sooner this year than last. And, while he’s conscious that it is an Olympic year he says, “It has to be a proper four-star competition. We won’t take it easy on them.” Smiling, he continues, “Until the fences get out there, you never really know for sure. I’ve no idea if I’m taking it easy on people this year. I haven’t deliberately set out with that as a thought process.”
This year’s 45-effort course will run in the same direction as last, with a few changes here and there to keep everyone on their toes. “We’re trying to get down to minimum distance. Eleven minutes and one second is the approximate optimum time. I want to get to as near to eleven minutes as possible. If I can get it on the money it would be fantastic. If it ends up at eleven minutes dead it will be a fluke, because when the posts go out, there will be no reposting. So if it’s eleven minutes and five seconds, it will be eleven minutes and five seconds.”
As to the course itself, the first effort is familiar; The Flowerbed followed by The Table. The third, however, is something different—new Split Walls that will also work for combined driving.
The fourth fence is the new Curving Oxer and is the first question on the course—“a couple of biggish oxers just to get the guys up in the air.” Next comes The Basket, followed by The Coffin—this time with a slightly different look to it. Says the designer, “Nearly didn’t use the coffin, but what I wanted to do this time was to come up with a different route in the infield, and I wanted to just to slow it down a little bit. I was conscious it was a bit too quick last year, so I tried to slow it down.”
Further on, there waits The Hammock and the Open Ditch and Rails as it was last year. Then on to the Sunken Road—from the left side, a bounce in, bounce out on the quick route but an example of where the designer backed off a bit. “It’s something I’m contemplating for 2010, but still a difficult fence.”
The Hollow has a slightly different look to it. It runs the other way than last with a big log going in then a steep bank coming out to a curved palisade at the top. As the designer describes it, “The Hollow will look pretty meaty when we get up there.” And there’s a handy long route for anyone who needs it.
Then, there are a couple of basic double corners, christened The Diamonds on two strides. These open corners will look quite chunky when one’s up in the air. “I was quite keen to have some open corners so the guys pay a bit more attention to them. The trend of filling corners has to be gotten away from, unless it’s necessary to fill them in. By in large, I think corners should be open. There’s a reason for them to be open so there’s got to be a good reason for them to be filled in, like there’s a better than average chance for someone to go into the middle of them.”
Next comes The Table which is the same as last year, then on to The Creek Oxer which has been turned around, something which signals a change from last year at the next series of efforts, The Head of the Lake (pictured right).
This year, the perennial crowd favorite will run in the opposite direction with two big brush fences going in, which Etherington-Smith views as an honesty question. All elements are one stride up; the first brush one stride, another brush, into the water, then onto the island with a lighthouse, up the step, and finally, one stride over a triple brush and away. “A bit of work to do for the guys,” says the designer.
Next comes the The Dray, which has a new location, up near The Normandy Bank, which is not being used. Then, on to The Suspended Log and the second water, whose surface is bigger than it was last year.
There’s a new line coming down to the second water. Etherington-Smith wanted to break that gallop up, because “It’s a bit of a racetrack.” And, while this water is relatively close to the water at the Lexington Bank, it suits the designer’s purpose well. There’s a seat built around a tree, then several rails going into the water, and a set of rails on top of the bank coming out.
The Walnut Tables, which come next, are run and jump fences and are followed by The Split Houses—something the designer is using to try and keep competitors slower for a bit longer up at the last water at The Lexington Bank. Three offset ducks to be followed by a turn toward one last lone duck will comprise the efforts necessary at this spectator favorite.
For the last loop, the route will stay the same, with the last four efforts being a log, one mushroom followed by another mushroom, and finally The Rolex Arch—making it’s final appearance on course. After ten years of faithful service, The Rolex Arch will be retired and removed.
The Competitors
Unfortunately, Kentucky’s fans of the always formidable British contingent will be disappointed as British Eventing’s International Teams Liaison Paul Graham confirms that there will be no British Riders competing in Lexington this year.
Check out the Entry List for Rolex – it’s always changing!
Additional Information
For those of you who can’t make it to Kentucky this April, NBC will once again broadcast highlights the event on the following Sunday, May 4 at 5:00 p.m.
For RK3DE information regarding competitors list, schedule, tickets, the trade fair, or accommodations, please visit the website at www.rk3de.org or call (859) 254-8123.
