The Mississippi Hospitality Tour 5D Final Series Final and the Fun Run 5D Saddles Series will be held this weekend at the Mississippi Horse Park.
“Barrel races are the Horse Park’s biggest events because they bring the most money into the community, and this weekend’s event is one of the four biggest barrel races held here,” Horse Park employee Allison McNamara said.
There will be open class barrel races and youth class barrel races each day this weekend.
Open class barrel races will begin at 8 p.m. Friday and noon on Saturday. A church service will be held at 9 a.m. at the park followed by open class barrel races at 10 a.m.
Youth class barrel races will follow the open class barrel races each day. All of the awards will be given out Sunday after the last barrel race. For the open class barrel races, the awards will be saddles and belts, and awards for the youth class barrel races will be scooters.
“This is the first time for the Horse Park to have this barrel racing event, but it is going to be an annual event from now on,” said Joan Kuykendall, coordinator of the event.
Kuykendall said, “There will be about 300 to 500 contestants competing this weekend from Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana and north Florida.”
“There are pre-entries, but contestants are allowed to enter the barrel races later because there aren’t any late fees, which is why there isn’t a definite number of contestants,” she added.
Kuykendall said that there is no fee to watch any of the races all weekend. She said that barrel racing is not that big of a spectator sport, but there will still be many people at the Horse Park this weekend to view these races, including families of contestants, students, youth and families of the community.
“Throughout the entire weekend, there will probably be around 800 to 1,000 people at the barrel races each day,” Kuykendall said.
Bricklee Miller, employee of the Horse Park, said, “The great thing about 5D races is that you don’t have to have the fastest horse to win because they’re half-second split races. In half-second split races, winners are paid in five divisions, and they all receive equal shares of the prize money.” Bricklee also stated that on Friday there is no money added to the prize money, but Saturday and Sunday there is $2,000 added to the jackpot each day, which entices people to compete.
The next event to be held at the Horse Park will be the Royal Hanneford Circus Oct. 7. There will also be three days of average races held at the Horse Park on Oct. 15-17. For more information on Mississippi Horse Park events, call 325-0508.