The richest weeks of the year began on Sunday, August 23, for American Saddlebreds, with the opening of the World’s Championship Horse Show at the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville, followed by the All American Classic at Indianapolis, IN, beginning Tuesday, September 8.

Total premiums and awards at the Kentucky State Fair are estimated to reach approximately $1.2 million over the week of the World’s Championship, culminating Saturday, August 29, with the World’s Grand Championships and the $100,000 Five-Gaited Saddlebred “Big Stake.” Purses offered in the American Saddlebred Registry’s (ASR) Kentucky, Amateur, and National Three-Year-Old futurities alone are estimated to exceed $220,000, and begin with in-hand classes on opening night.

The All American Classic to follow has been designated a Regional Championship competition by the American Saddlebred Horse Association (ASHA), and was the United Professional Horsemen’s Association National Honor Show for 2008. Held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, the All American is the site of the American Saddlebred Registry’s Sweepstakes program, with total estimated purses of over $220,000, an increase of over 5% from a year ago, with an 18% increase in the Four-Year-Old section alone. Total purses in Indianapolis are expected to reach over $700,000, including the American Hackney Horse Society Limited Breeders Stakes, the Indiana Saddlebred and Hackney Futurities, UPHA Classics for Saddlebreds and Hackneys, plus added monies from the Registry’s Grand National program. For further information, including post entries, contact Secretary Judy McNamara at [email protected], or Manager Claire Panke at [email protected].

The Indiana spectacular is almost synonymous, however, with the All American Weanling and Three-Year-Old Cups. The latter will award an all-time record in riches of over $172,000 in one American Saddlebred class, exceeding the previous record amount awarded last year, and the champion in that event will leave the ring with over $53,000 on Friday evening, September 11. Of the 115 three-year-olds eligible to compete, only one will claim the largest prize in a single class ever offered in the breed. The All American Cup for weanlings will itself award over $130,000, with over $38,000 going to the champion weanling. For more information on the All American Cup, and to see the 600 Saddlebreds eligible for the All American Cup, visit www.allamericancup.org, or contact Jim Aikman by email at [email protected] or by telephone at (317) 862-4341.