The Kentucky Horse Park has submitted a formal bid to the FEI, the governing body of International Equestrian Sports, to host the World Equestrian Games in 2022.
The park has hosted the Equestrian World Championships once before - in 2010 - the first time the Games had ever been held outside of Europe. Alltech stepped in as a major sponsor of the Games and the brand new Alltech Indoor Arena, and Rolex sponsored the outdoor stadium to the tune of $1.2m over 10 years and retains the naming rights through 2019.
In 2013 the FEI signed on rival watchmaker Longines as a sponsor through 2023 and it’s believed that was why the Kentucky Horse Park did not win their bid for the 2018 World Equestrian Games. Those Games instead went to Bromont, Canada who dropped out earlier this year. The brand new Tyron International Equestrian Centre in North Carolina is actively bidding for them.
The FEI has told the Kentucky Horse Park they’ll know in December if they have made the short list of official candidates. If so, then addressing the naming rights of the Rolex arena will be one of the first items on the agenda, according to Horse Park commission chairwoman Tandy Patrick. Rolex, of course, has been a long and loyal sponsor of the Rolex Kentucky Three Day event at the horse Park, one of the few sporting events to be known simply by it’s sponsor’s name.
