The Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund will hold its annual All Star Jocky Team Penning at the Kentucky Horse Park on April 14. The emcee for the evening is award-winning comedian Tim Conway, vice president of the group.

You can ride on a team of three with a world-class  jockey for a $500 donation if you enter fast enough! Top jockeys who have competed in the past include Chris McCarron,  Gary Stevens, John Rotz, Angel Cordero Jr., Patty Cooksey, Cory Lanerie, Robby Albarado, Donna Brothers, and Garret Gomez.

Team penning is one of the fastest-growing equine sports in the country. In the event, 30 “cows” (usually steers) numbered from 0 through 9 stand at one end of an arena. There are three number 0s, three number 1s, etc. Three riders enter the arena and proceed to the start line. When the timekeeper calls the start, the riders are given a number, 5 for example. They have to move all three number 5s from the herd down to the other end of the arena and put them into a pen while “holding” the other cattle on the starting end. While the optimum is to pen all three cattle, even penning one will result in potentially being called back for a “pen off.” The team with the quickest combined time with three cattle (or the highest number) penned wins the event.

However, the cattle were the winners in most rounds at the 2007 Celebrity Team Penning, which gave lots of fodder for Conway to make comments and poke a little fun at the expense of the competitors and jockeys