Horse Park Hosts Hats Off Day To Celebrate Equine Industry
Hats Off to Kentucky’s Horse Industry Day, featuring free events designed to celebrate the horse, is Saturday, July 26, beginning at 4 p.m. at the Kentucky Horse Park.
This year’s theme is “Triple Crown Winners of the 20th Century” and features appearances by Kate Chenery Tweedy, daughter of Secretariat owner Penny Chenery Tweedy; Triple Crown winning jockey Jean Cruguet (Seattle Slew, 1977); and legendary Sports Illustrated writer and Secretariat expert Bill Nack.
Hats Off Day is the only day of the entire year that admission to the Kentucky Horse Park is free. Additionally, all festivities are free and begin at 4 p.m. with a horse farm hat giveaway followed by family activities including pony rides, inflatable games, stick horse races, interactive educational booths, equine demonstrations and a Grand Prix show jumping competition in the Rolex Stadium.
A new activity this year is the Hats Off Day Diamond Dig, where attendees can purchase a $1 chance to dig for a spectacular piece of diamond jewelry hidden on the show jumping course.
The second annual Equine Book Fair, presented by Joseph-Beth Booksellers, is from 5-7 p.m. and features well-known authors including Kate Chenery Tweedy, signing her book Secretariat’s Meadow; sports writer Lou Sahadi (Affirmed: The Last Triple Crown Winner); racing historian Ed Bowen (War Admiral); Milt Toby (Canonero II); Jaime Corum (illustrator, D is for Derby); David Shew (Midway Dreams), Barbara Bach (The Derby Party Cooking Clinic), and Jamie Nicholson (The Kentucky Derby: How the Run for the Roses Became America’s Premier Sporting Event).
At 7:30 p.m., the $50,000 Rood and Riddle Kentucky Grand Prix jumping competition begins, with top-level show jumpers soaring over five-foot fences – working to clear obstacles with the least number of faults and the fastest time.
Hats Off Day also serves as a charity fundraiser for the Kentucky Equine Humane Center (www.kyehc.org) and the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation (www.khpfoundation.org). Hats Off Day has raised more than $700,000 for charities since its inception in 2003.
For more information on Hats Off Day, including the event schedule, visit www.hatsoffky.com or follow Hats Off Day on Twitter (@HatsOffDay) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/hatsoffday).
Hats Off Day is presented by Official Partners Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital and Spy Coast Farm, and free admission is provided by Central Bank.
This year’s theme is “Triple Crown Winners of the 20th Century” and features appearances by Kate Chenery Tweedy, daughter of Secretariat owner Penny Chenery Tweedy; Triple Crown winning jockey Jean Cruguet (Seattle Slew, 1977); and legendary Sports Illustrated writer and Secretariat expert Bill Nack.
Hats Off Day is the only day of the entire year that admission to the Kentucky Horse Park is free. Additionally, all festivities are free and begin at 4 p.m. with a horse farm hat giveaway followed by family activities including pony rides, inflatable games, stick horse races, interactive educational booths, equine demonstrations and a Grand Prix show jumping competition in the Rolex Stadium.
This year’s feature exhibition is a four-horse team of Dutch Harness horses from Hillcroft Farm in Paris demonstrating a modified cross country marathon.
A new activity this year is the Hats Off Day Diamond Dig, where attendees can purchase a $1 chance to dig for a spectacular piece of diamond jewelry hidden on the show jumping course.
The second annual Equine Book Fair, presented by Joseph-Beth Booksellers, is from 5-7 p.m. and features well-known authors including Kate Chenery Tweedy, signing her book Secretariat’s Meadow; sports writer Lou Sahadi (Affirmed: The Last Triple Crown Winner); racing historian Ed Bowen (War Admiral); Milt Toby (Canonero II); Jaime Corum (illustrator, D is for Derby); David Shew (Midway Dreams), Barbara Bach (The Derby Party Cooking Clinic), and Jamie Nicholson (The Kentucky Derby: How the Run for the Roses Became America’s Premier Sporting Event).
At 7:30 p.m., the $50,000 Rood and Riddle Kentucky Grand Prix jumping competition begins, with top-level show jumpers soaring over five-foot fences – working to clear obstacles with the least number of faults and the fastest time.
Hats Off Day also serves as a charity fundraiser for the Kentucky Equine Humane Center (www.kyehc.org) and the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation (www.khpfoundation.org). Hats Off Day has raised more than $700,000 for charities since its inception in 2003.
For more information on Hats Off Day, including the event schedule, visit www.hatsoffky.com or follow Hats Off Day on Twitter (@HatsOffDay) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/hatsoffday).
Leave a Reply