Horse Park to Get New Hotel and Arena

. October 14, 2008

By Maryjean Wall, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Dec. 7--In the shadow of Man o' War's statue, two Kentuckians promised each other more than a year ago they would bring the world to the Kentucky Horse Park in 2010.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher and John Nicholson, executive director of the Horse Park, yesterday got their wish.

With Fletcher speaking at the Horse Park and Nicholson on the telephone from Bahrain, the governor confirmed that Lexington will host the 2010 World Equestrian Games Sept. 20-Oct. 3.

This will mark the first time the equestrian competition, including seven types of horse sports, will be outside Europe.

A team of five, headed by Nicholson and John Long, chief executive officer of the U.S. Equestrian Federation, went to Bahrain in the Persian Gulf to make Kentucky's pitch yesterday.

The Normandy region of France was the only other finalist. The Federation Equestre Internationale, a Swiss-based group governing international horse sports, picked Lexington as host site after the two, 20-minute presentations.

Nicholson said he sensed a key reason Lexington won out over France was the commonwealth's complete support of the initiative.

"They're going to come to Kentucky and celebrate the horse as the No. 1 partner of humans," said Jim Host, former commerce secretary for Kentucky, who accompanied Fletcher to the announcement.

"What this means," Fletcher added, "is that the international equestrian group has said there is no better place in the world to host the games. And they're right."

Olympian David O'Connor, also on hand, said, "I've competed all over the world, and there is no place like the Kentucky Horse Park."

A crowd of 300 to 400 people rose multiple times in standing ovations to Fletcher's announcement.

Most of those attending had arrived already knowing the news, which was posted on Kentucky.com after a French newspaper broke the news on-line almost two hours earlier.

With the good news dissolving into a congratulatory buzz that spread through the announcement tent, many in the crowd were excitedly hugging one another long before the governor's arrival.

Then, they cheered and applauded during the playing of a promotional video accented by Neil Diamond's singing of Coming to America.

Nicholson and the team took the five-minute video, featuring appearances by Fletcher and Host, to Bahrain to show during their winning presentation.

Now, the remainder of the hard work begins.

First on the to-do list is a major announcement in January about a hotel planned for the Horse Park grounds.

Also in January, Fletcher plans to present in his budget a $33.4 million request for construction of a 7,000-seat permanent arena at the Horse Park.

Fletcher yesterday named Host the board chairman of the group that will oversee formation and planning of the 2010 event.

Host announced that within three months the board will hire an executive director of the event after a nationwide search.

Host also said an army of "thousands and thousands" of volunteers will be formed within the next six months.

"That's help we will need from the citizens of Kentucky," Host said.

In addition to assembling volunteers to aid in putting on the event, the planners will arrange for and construct horse competition trails through adjacent farms to complete the course for the 100-mile endurance race.

Preparations will resemble the work that transpired at the Horse Park before it hosted the 1978 World Three-Day Event Championships.

But those championships encompassed one horse sport. The World Games include seven, and on a much larger international scale.

"This is big-time," said Bill Cooke, director of the park's International Museum of the Horse, which itself hosted multi-national crowds during two blockbuster exhibits: one on the horse in China and the other on horses of Britain's royal family.

Nicholson said he had sensed since arriving in Bahrain that the FEI had decided the time had come for the games to venture outside Europe.

"Kentucky's heritage, our culture, our horse economy," he said, "all these factors blended together to assure our success."

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