History
The World's Championship has been held every year since it was founded in 1902, except for in 1904, when no fair was held, and in 1945, when the fair was cancelled due to World War II. It is one of the three horse shows that compose the Saddlebred "Triple Crown," in addition to the Lexington Junior League in Lexington, Kentucky, and the American Royal in Kansas City, Missouri. The schedule always ends on a Saturday night with the five gaited world's grand championship.
In 1953, Wing Commander became the first Saddlebred to ever win six world's grand championship titles, all in the five gaited division. After him, a mare named My-My matched his feat from 1963 to 1968, but she died before she could win a seventh title. More recently, a fine harness horse named Callaway's Copyright won his sixth world's grand championship in 2006 and retired shortly thereafter. In 1988, Michele MacFarlane became the first woman and first amateur to win the five gaited world's grand championship on Sky Watch. Since then, she has had two more wins of the same title, on two different horses in 1996 and 2007. The latter year definitely made Saddlebred history, for another amateur woman, Mary Gaylord McClean, won the reserve title to MacFarlane. Some other horses that have made history with their performances are An Heir About Her, who became the first three-year-old Saddlebred to win a world's grand championship in 2002, and A Sweet Treat, who won world's grand championships in both the three gaited and fine harness divisions, which is particularly unusual and proves a horse's versatility.
For the first time ever, in 2006, the Kentucky State Fair offered a western pleasure division for Saddlebreds. It still does not offer hunt seat, park pleasure, or a junior exhibitor park, pleasure equitation, or adult equitation division, all of which are being desired for inclusion in the show by some exhibitors.
Read more about this topic: Kentucky State Fair World's Championship Horse Show
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