Event gearing up for 2007 World Cup bid

The Event at Rebecca Farm - which begins its fourth year today and is already one of only four qualifying events in the United States for the International Equestrian Federation's (FEI) World Cup - is setting its sites on something even bigger: The World Cup itself.

Eventing is the combined events of dressage, cross country and show jumping, and Rebecca Farm was the American bid site for the 2006 World Cup, which was eventually awarded to Malmo, Sweden.

Now attention has turned to 2007, though there figures to be greater competition from other U.S. cities.

"I'll be very frank with you, I think the biggest stumbling block is just

sort of this Euro-centric view of the word that the FEI has, and which many sports federations based in Europe tend to have," said Roger Haller, an FEI technical delegate.

"That's probably the biggest thing that needs to be overcome. At some point in every cycle of awarding championships - World Cup finals, Olympic games and everything else - all of a sudden an organization reaches that point where they have awarded it so many times to cities in Europe that they get a little bit antsy and somebody comes through and says 'how come we haven't gone to the Americas?' or 'how come we haven't gone to Oceania?' or whatever the deal is. And then all of a sudden there's a ripeness, it's ready to be done."

The time may be coming. The first two World Cups, which is admittedly still in its infancy, were in Pau, France - where Lance Armstrong and the rest of the Tour de France stopped for a rest day Monday - and this year's and next is in Malmo.

Rebecca Farm, because it too is still a juvenile, was a reluctant choice as the American entrant last summer. The process for soliciting bids is still a bit chaotic and proposals had to be put together somewhat quickly. The Farm answered the call and the U.S. federation forwarded their application.

"We knew we weren't going to win anyway," Haller said. "But now the FEI is familiar with Rebecca Farm and its plans for hosting the event.

"From the Rebecca Farm side, I think that this event is maturing and working along the normal ladder of progress. I would say, it has to continue along the line of being a public event.

"We ought to start seeing crowds of 15-20,000 on cross country day and 8,000 for show jumping, or something like that, and start to see these mounds filled up and start to see people around every cross country fence and stuff like that."

That seems a tall order for what is, by almost any definition, a niche sport that draws spectators more for its curiosity factor than from a deep and abiding love of eventing.

"Niche sports have a need to broaden their base," Haller said. "What you've got here is the beginnings of a very good family attraction.

"It's very typically the mother and daughter that are interested in horses, and the husband and the son tag along. So what you have to do is create more things so that the whole family is entertained."

Even if the overall appeal of a weekend on the Farm is broadened as Haller suggested, it's not very practical to think that one out of every four residents in the Flathead would show up on Saturday to reach that 20,000 figure.

"If we're talking about more than just the Flathead Valley area, we've got to start talking to people and getting on radio stations in Missoula and other places and start making this event a western Montana sporting event, the way that say a University of Montana football game would be," Haller said. "Something that people talk about and is on their regular schedule of things to do."

The one area Rebecca Farm has down cold is the infrastructure of the competition itself. Cross country course designer Captain Mark Phillips and show jumping course designer Richard Jeffery bring world-class credentials to the Event.

"I would say that technically, this event is quite well prepared to make the step forward," Haller said. "It's a very distinct possibility that it could happen here."

For now, though, this year's Event takes center stage with dressage starting things off at 8 a.m. and running throughout the day. Lower division cross country starts at 11:30 a.m. and continues into the early evening.

Saturday is all cross country, with the World Cup qualifiers - 15 of them - on course at about 12:45 p.m. The Event concludes Sunday with show jumping.