Keep your eyes open around town for William Shatner this August. The 93-year-old actor and equestrian makes competing in Louisville’s World’s Championship Horse Show a priority and for good reason.
Last summer we spoke with Shatner before he was inducted into the American Road Horse & Pony Association Hall of Fame at Freedom Hall at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville.
“In our sport, we are inside Freedom Hall, which means we’re going 40 miles per hour around a basketball court with sometimes as many as 10 horses in front or behind you, all seemingly ready to cave your skull in with their hooves,” Shatner previously told the Courier Journal. “So there is an element of danger, actually, there is a large element of danger.”
Shanter routinely competes in Kentucky’s top equestrian events. He has won his class multiple times at the most prestigious show, The World’s Championship Horse Show, which has been held for 121 years in conjunction with the Kentucky State Fair, which celebrates its 120th anniversary this year.
Other famous names you may recognize who compete or attend the World’s Championship Horse Show include Carson Kressley (“Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,”) and Patrick Duffy from the television series “Dallas” has been seen in the stands at Freedom Hall watching as his son competed at the show. Louisville-based film director Castille Landon is also a competitor. Landon recently directed “Summer Camp” starring Hollywood heavy hitters Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard, and Eugene Levy.
Celebrities aside, the World’s Championship Horse Show is a big deal for Louisville.
“It’s a very big deal, and I don’t know that people realize the magnitude of what is taking place inside Freedom Hall during the Kentucky State Fair,” said Scarlett Mattson, WCHS manager. “Competitors travel to Louisville from as far as Europe and South Africa and all across the United States to show against the very best in the world.”
