Tickets to the World Equestrian Games
With the Alltech World Equestrian Games only 39 days away so there’s no time to spare in making your ticket reservations. It’s officially cram time.
World Equestrian Games Tickets:
There are a few different kinds of tickets available for purchase and, I’m not sure about you, but I find all the options a little overwhelming. The ticket to get a seat costs $42 or $32 for dressage on Thursday and Friday. A ticket (which is the same a the Saturday grounds pass) for cross-country on Saturday will cost you $45. A ticket with a seat for the final show jumping phase will cost $105 or $80. The most important note to make is that you can buy a ticket to get on the grounds for $25 but that won’t get you a seat in the main stadium to watch dressage or showjumping.
Yikes, those numbers add up. Even if you opt for the lower-priced options you’ll still be out $189 for one person. The other option is to buy grounds passes which would total $120 which, while it won’t get you seat, will still get you into the thrill of it all.
There are no tickets for Saturday’s cross-country, per se, but you will need a grounds pass ($45). They have an additional hospitality option for cross-country which I think is actually a super deal (which is perhaps why it was buried on the website). For $125 you get a shuttle back and forth to cross-country (isn’t it worth it just for that?) plus a climate-controlled tent with beverages and some light food, flat screens to watch the play-by-play, as well as ”VIP bathroom facilities”. Okay, fancier port-a-potties. Yes, you can walk back and forth like every other eventing fan but why not save your energy to watch every last bit of adrenaleine-pumping action and for going out that night to celebrate the amazing ride of your favorite eventers? I’m on that bandwagon.
World Equestrian Games Reining and Dressage
While we’ll be, without a doubt, hanging on every last move of the 3-day eventers from all over the world it might be worth your while to take a peek at some of the other events that will be taking place simultaneously.
Reining: I couldn’t tell you the first thing about reining but I have a hearty appreciation for this discipline if for no other reason that it’s totally foreign to me. You can bet I’ll be sneaking into the Individual Final Competition on Thursday at 1pm in the indoor arena ($120) as well as staring in awe at the Freestyle Exhibition (note, it’s not part of the WEG’s) that evening at 6pm in the indoor arena ($70). A tip of the hat to the Reiners out there.
What’s more is that the dressage riders will be doing their thing on Friday night at the Grand Prix freestyle at 7pm in the main stadium ($140 or $110). Horses prancing in a piaffe and charging across the diagonal in an extension? Yes please, count me in!
Buy Your World Equestrian Games Tickets and Passes
You may want to check out the whole schedule for the World Equestrian Games while you make your final decisions. If you’re ready to buy your tickets you can get them at the World Equestrian Games website or, much better, if you buy them through the USEA promo then a portion of the proceeds goes to the organization that makes our favorite sport possible in this country. That’s a win-win!
World Equestrian Games Hospitality Passes
We’ve talked about individual tickets to the World Equestrian Games but really have we have much more discuss. You might be interested in hospitality passes, particularly if you’ll be going for business or with clients. Or, thanks to the James Beard Foundation, perhaps you can squeeze in a Celebrity Chef dinner where celebrity chefs will pair with a local Kentucky chef to make you the meal of a lifetime. Who knows, maybe we’ll be sitting next to each other!
Current participating chefs include:
John Besh, Restaurant August, New Orleans, La.
Philippe Boulot, the Heathman at the Heathman Hotel, Portland, Ore.
Clifford Harrison and Anne Quatrano, Bacchanalia, Atlanta, Ga.
Sanford D’Amato, Sanford Restaurant, Milwaukee, Wis.
Roberto Donna, Galileo, Washington, DC
Jose Garces, 2009 Iron Chef Winner, Amada, Philadelphia, Pa.
Mark Kiffin, The Compound restaurant, Santa Fe, N.M.
Mike Lata, Fig, Charleston, S.C.
Christopher Lee, Aureole, New York City, N.Y.
Emily Luchetti, Farallon Restaurant, San Francisco, Calif.
George Mavrothalassitis, Chef Mavro Restaurant, Honolulu, HI
Nancy Oakes, Boulevard restaurant, San Francisco, Calif.
Vitaly Paley, Paley’s Place Bistro and Bar, Portland, Ore.
Joachim B. Splichal, Patina Restaurant Group, New York, NY.
Marc Vetri, Vetri, Philadelphia, Pa.
There are a lot of options and ways to experience the World Equestrian games and no one way is better than the next. The most important thing is that you have a good time. If you can’t be there in person, don’t worry, we’ll be taking you along with us on this the most incredible Three Days Three Ways Road trip yet!
World Equestrian Games 2010 or Bust!
