As the sounds of bulldozers and tractors interrupted a news conference Thursday marking the halfway point to the 2010 World Equestrian Games, Kentucky Horse Park director John Nicholson was asked if he wanted to stop the noise.

“No, we’ve got two years to go,” Nicholson said. “We need every single day.”

Although Lexington was tapped two years ago as the first non-European host of the Olympic-style horse event, Nicholson and other leaders of the games say the mad rush to finish really begins now. Some 800 human athletes and 900 horses from 60 nations are expected to attend the event, which is being tapped as one of Lexington’s biggest.

“For 16 days, Kentucky is going to be front and center on the world stage,” Kentucky first lady Jane Beshear said