SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – The 69^th Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration^® is sure to be one of the most exciting ever, with 4,197 pre-entries being made for the 11-day show.

This year’s total is 374 less than the 2006 total. The record mark for pre-entries is 4,914. That number was set in 2003.

“After the issues of 2006, we expected a slight drop in total numbers, but it is extremely gratifying to post such a good number of entries,” said Celebration CEO Ron Thomas. “The credit for the continued success of our entries goes to all of the owners, trainers, and exhibitors from across the country that have helped make The Celebration^® exactly what it is, the World’s Greatest Horse Show. We are delighted and humbled by the number of entries. It is truly a vote of confidence for our breed and its world championship horse show”

The number of classes that were split into two divisions is down slightly from one year ago. There will be 24 A-B splits this year, as opposed to 29 last year.

“We always want to grow our numbers,” said Thomas. “However, these numbers are exciting to me when you take into account the issues our industry has faced in the past year or so.”

Three new World Grand Championship^® classes have been added this year, including a Youth Trail Pleasure championship, Adults on Walking Ponies championship, and Park Performance championship.

Additionally, two new classes for young trainers (35 & under) received extremely strong support with 38 entries in one and 36 in the other.

“We are extremely happy to see the strong support we have received for the new classes added to the program over the last few years,” reported Thomas. “We made some changes and additions and added three new championships that seem to be getting a good response.”

The Celebration^® is the longest continually running event in the state of Tennessee and the 2007 edition kicks off with morning classes on Wednesday, August, 22^nd and the initial night performance in the outdoor Celebration Arena will be on Thursday night, August 23^rd.

Ticket purchases can be made by calling 931-684-5915. More Celebration information can be found at www.twhnc.com.