BADMINTON AND KENTUCKY AGREE DATES

The Organisers of the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials and the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event have been able to avoid a clash of dates in the future. 

Badminton announced earlier this year that it would be running over the weekend of the May Day bank holiday from 2010, with cross country day on the Sunday and show jumping on the holiday Monday. Unfortunately, this very occasionally clashes with the traditional Kentucky date, the cross country for which has been the last Saturday in April since 1987. 

It has now been agreed that in 2011 Badminton will run one week earlier, i.e. 22-25 April, which, being the Easter weekend, will still enable the event to climax on a bank holiday Monday. In 2016, Kentucky in turn has agreed to run a week earlier than it otherwise would so that Badminton can maintain their holiday Monday schedule. 

Both Event Directors, Hugh Thomas and Janie Atkinson, salute the agreement as demonstrating the good relationship between the leading international events and being in the best interests of the sport of eventing, which would not have been well served by a clash of two of the three Rolex Grand Slam events or indeed two of the HSBC FEI Classic Four Star Events. 

Event Dates until 2016 are now as follows: 

Further Information:

Julian Seaman, Badminton Press Officer, 41 Gastein Road, London, W6 8LT

T: + 44 (0) 207 385 0591; F: + 44 (0) 207 386 9820; E: j.seaman2@sky.com  

Also:

Mitsubishi Motors Press Office

T: + 44 (0) 1285 647200; E: pressoffice@mitsubishi-cars.co .uk

Also:

Jane Atkinson, Event Director, Equestrian Events, Inc., P.O. Box 12110, Lexington, KY 40580-2110

T: 001 859-233-2362; F: 859-254-5116; E: eeiusa@windstream.net