People call it all sorts of things, Rolex, Kentucky, Land Rover, etc. The sponsors aren’t going to pack up and leave just because someone calls it something else on the internet.
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Badminton 5*
Burghley 5*
Luhmuhlen 5*
Pau 5*
Adelaide 5*
Maryland 5*
[A Previous Commercial Sponsor] 5*
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I’m calling it Kentucky. 
Or KY 3D. That’s what the event calls itself these days.
And it’s the one thing that I don’t expect to change, even if there is another change of sponsor.
The whole world calling it “Rolex” for so many years, to the point that when the name left it was as if the event had lost its identity, has to be one of the greatest branding achievements in the history of marketing.
Re-branding to Kentucky is where I personally choose to go.
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If you remember correctly this is the post that started this topic and it said “basically no one in Lexington calls it anything else” (but Rolex). You stated her source was wrong. I agreed with her because I live here and I know many many people HERE who still call it Rolex. Hence why I said basically no one in Kentucky calls it “Kentucky”. It was all about what people HERE call it, not what the world “outside Kentucky” calls it.
That’s all.
Your source is wrong on that one lol
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I’ll just stick to referring to it as The Best Weekend All Year 
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100% with @DLee1 on this. If you’re from out of state, sure it makes sense to refer to it simply as “Kentucky.” Locals don’t call it that though. I’m a KY native now living in FL, and the CCI will always be “Rolex.” You simply can’t call the event “Kentucky” if you’re in the commonwealth. To those of us who grew up in the sport in the 00’s, 90s, or earlier, it will always be “Rolex.” There are many other horse trials (not to mention a hundred other discipline events) at the KHP throughout the year, and locals need to call it something to differentiate The Big CCI from everything else.
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Long ago there were some contentious (but ridiculous) court cases to claim that Kleenex and Coke could no longer be brand names, because people didn’t call tissue and soda anything else. (Well not in the American South, anyway. I had never heard the term “tissue” for Kleenex before that case was in the news.)
So maybe Rolex can no longer be a brand of watch, only that 5* they run in KY … 
Must say, Rolex sponsors a LOT of sporting events in small and large ways. Including as a full or partial sponsor in other 5*'s. I see a random photo of a 5* rider & horse on XC with a Rolex sign slapped on something in the background and think “that must have been in KY a few years ago”, even if it was somewhere else … 
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When I lived in Hong Kong, a local friend said you can tell when people arrived in the city by what they called this one posh hotel Kowloon side. It has changed hands/brands several times.
My DH is from a holiday destination area and it’s the same there. We both call one of the posh hotels one thing but that name was a couple brands ago.
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I’ve been calling it either Kentucky or Rolex-I-mean-Not-Rolex if I’m talking out loud, LRK3DE if I’m typing most of the time. But I lately end up going with not-Rolex. Kentucky is hard because we also call going to May Daze / KDA “Kentucky” at my barn.
Will there be a way to watch replays for Badminton XC?
Haven’t caught up yet, so forgive me if it’s been mentioned. Would you be able to provide a list of OT’s sponsors or know where I could find them? I would like to add my voice for the cause. Thanks!
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I can’t believe that Adelaide has still held its 5* when it’s essentially only Aussies and a few Kiwis and whoever they can pay to come over and borrow a local horse (OT did one year). It’s a gorgeous city and a fabulous track that runs right through town, but I thought Melbourne would have grabbed it up by now and made it more international. I’ve been a number of times, and it’s lovely, but it’s not international.
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Quarantine rules are really tight for horses coming into Australia. Racehorses who win big prizes can afford it but Eventers can’t. It is the FEI rules that make it International rather than participants. I would love to see overseas riders having a go there.
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Moving it to Melbourne won’t make it any more international. Nz and Aus based horses can move back at forward between the two countries without lengthy quarantine but no other country can. Also flying horses to Aus or NZ from Europe or US costs an absolute bomb, at least 2x the cost of the US/Europe trip
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Yeah, I live in Brisbane and thought about flying over to watch, but it’s just not appealing to me. It also looks soft for a 5*.
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It’s really lovely, and Gill did a great job moving it from Gawler into the city all those years ago, but it’s nothing on the big events worldwide. It’s only a few weeks before Badminton, and right at the start of the Europe season, if they shifted it a bit, they might entice a few more international riders on borrowed horses - maybe a swap system between some Aussie riders who’d then get a shot in Europe or the USA, it’d be great exposure for the Aussies who are based in Australia.
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I grew up in the Gold Coast! Went to work for Heath Ryan et al as a late teen and throughly enjoyed going to Adelaide- a hugely fun event! Now in Upperville VA
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I don’t know if you mean Kentucky ppl only for this but I grew up in the sport from that era and call it Landrover or Kentucky depending who I talk to. No one I know calls it Rolex anymore but that’s obviously just the ppl I see and know.
So it goes to show it gets called LOTS OF THINGS and not just one, which was my original point haha
You may be thinking of another horse. Yes, Armada was chestnut, but I would firmly disagree with the characterization of him as “always-overmatched”. He was a full brother to Nereo, and one of the best cross country horses of our time. His performance at Badminton 2014 (“That Badminton”) will always live on in my memory. Oliver may well have muscled around another chestnut, but IMO Armada never saw a track big enough for him in his life.
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And yet it is absolutely critical in the development of Antipodean combinations. Horses produced in that area and through that pipeline have consistently showed up and surprised the heck out of the rest of the world (Europeans in particular) at big championships and other five stars. Just from recent years, Virgil, Balmoral Sensation, Bold Venture, TS Jamaimo, Artist, and many others based down there have come over and taken home a good chunk of change. That part of the world still knows how to source and produce a good Thoroughbred, too, which is fun in the age that believes TBs will never score in the 20s and they need to go pick up some 35% blood horse to get the scores on the flat. Again, they force people sit up and reevaluate their assumptions when they come over.
This used to be possible, but now even Category A riders cannot catch ride at 5* (disappointing from someone who loved watching Chris Burton pick up the reins on Jamaimo and promptly win the whole thing). The international riders can’t borrow horses, and it is incredibly cumbersome to fly their own in. Unfortunately, the current setup is likely as good as it gets, but it is still very important and there is much to be learned from watching it every year.
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You’re right. Not Armada.
Way way back. I was looking but most of those pages no longer exist online.
I think it was Topping …
