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Information Contact:
Jane Atkinson, Event Director, 859-233-2362 or eeiusa@alltel.net
Marty Bauman, Press Chief, (508) 698-6810, info@classic-communications.com
Winsome
Adante to be Honored in Official Retirement Ceremony at
the 2008 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event Presented by Farnam
LEXINGTON, KY—January 22, 2008—The only three-time winner of
the CCI**** at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, Eventing legend Winsome Adante
will grace the Sheila C. Johnson Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington
one final time. He will be honored by the United States Equestrian Federation,
Rolex Kentucky organizer Equestrian Events Inc. and his fans in an official retirement
ceremony at the 2008 Event on Sunday, April 27. Owned by Plain Dealing
Farm in Scottsville, VA and ridden by Kim Severson, Winsome  Adante
is the only horse to win the nation’s only CCI**** more than once, and he
is undefeated at the competition. Officially retiring him at Rolex Kentucky was
the obvious choice. (Kim and Winsome Adante are pictured at the right jumping
into the water at The Fork in 2006.) “Dan,” as he
is widely known, won the competition in 2002 and then went on to be an integral
part of the Gold Medal winning team at the World Equestrian Games in Jerez de
la Frontera, Spain later that year. He battled a bout of colic in 2003, sitting
out most of the competition season, but returned with a vengeance in 2004 and
won the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event again, making him a medal favorite for
the looming Olympics. He delivered on the expectation, winning Individual Silver
and Team Bronze Medals in Athens, Greece. April of 2005 brought
him back to Lexington where he won the CCI**** again as the overwhelming favorite,
decimating the rest of the field and winning by an incredible17 points. He led
from the start and was the only horse to finish on his dressage score. He went
on to represent his country again at the 2006 World Equestrian Games and was third
in his first attempt at the Badminton CCI**** in England in the spring of 2007.
It was after an injury sustained in 2007 that Plain Dealing Farm’s
Linda Wachtmeister, in consultation with Severson and his veterinarians, decided
that due to a suspensory injury in a hind leg, it was in Dan’s best interest
to retire him. The English Thoroughbred gelding is 15 years old and will live
out his retirement in the field at Plain Dealing Farm. The formal
retirement ceremony will take place just prior to the beginning of the Jumping
Test of the 2008 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by Farnam.
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