In February Equestrian Events, Inc. (EEI) President Mike Cooper announced that the competition - one of six annual CCI5* star horse trial events along with the Burghley and Badminton Horse Trials in England, the Australian International Three Day event, the Luhmuhlen Horse Trials in Germany and the Stars of Pau in France - could not go ahead.

Cooper claimed the uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic had put organisers in the "financially impossible" position of running the event without spectators.

In response, American five-star rider Sara Kozumplik Murphy and husband Brian Murphy set up and promoted a crowdfunding page with the initial target of $750,000 (£539,000/€623,000).

Other American five-star riders, including Dorothy Crowell and Lynn Symansky, were also involved with the campaign.

Within a week the campaign had raised $550,000 (£395,000/€457,000) and that was ample to convince the EEI to reverse its decision.

"We are humbled and honoured by the response of the eventing community as they’ve stepped up in a mind-blowing way enabling us to go forward," Cooper told Horse and Hound.   

The contest, which makes up the Grand Slam of Eventing along with the Badminton and Burghley horse trials in England, has attracted its habitual world class field, including the Briton who will be seeking a third consecutive win on Cooley Master Class Oliver Townend.

Only one rider has managed that feat since the event first ran in 1978 - Germany's Michael Jung, who won in 2015, 2016 and 2017 on the same horse, fischerRocana FST.

The 38-year-old Yorkshireman has good reason to remember Lexington for a number of reasons, not least the fall there in 2010 when his horse landed on him and he broke his collarbone, shoulder bones, sternum and four ribs, crediting his air bag vest with allowing him to leave hospital after one day, saying that without it he "would be in a box or in America for a month."

Townend’s 52-year-old compatriot William Fox-Pitt, who has two Olympic silvers and a bronze in team eventing, will also be present to seek what would be a fourth victory after his successes in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

The home entry includes 57-year-old Philip Dutton, who won team gold with Australia at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics before competing for the United States, for whom he won this event in 2008 and a Rio 2016 bronze medal.

On March 1 it was announced that the Badminton Horse Trials, which last took place in 2019 and were scheduled for May 5 to 9, would be postponed for a second year due to the "fragile and unpredictable" coronavirus situation.