Fabien Grobon, chief executive of Normandy 2014, revealed that around 270,000 tickets have been purchased for the Games so far, which are due to take place from August 23 to September 7, higher at this stage than for previous editions.

But he warned there are still plenty left to shift in the remaining months.

"It's important to stress the fact that we still have 130,000 tickets left to sell so it would be a mistake to say that everything is full," said Grobon.

"There are still big numbers of tickets available for the showjumping and dressage disciplines in particular but these are being held in the biggest arena the D'Ornano Stadium [capacity 21,000].

"There are still a lot of tickets to sell but there is still a lot of days and months to sell them.

"We are still ahead of our plans."

The International Equestrian Federation (FEI) World Equestrian Games are the biggest event on the sport's calendar and this year will see events taking place across five different locations in the Normandy region.

The main hub of the Games will be the city of Caen, home to the D'Ornano Stadium, and along with jumping and dressage, will also stage the Opening and Closing Ceremonies as well the jumping test of the eventing competition.

The streets of Caen will be thronging with spectators when the city hosts the World Equestrian Games later this year ©AFP/Getty Images



The Para-dressage and driving competitions will take place in the Prairie racecourse in Caen city centre while the Zenith indoor arena and exhibition centre will host the vaulting and reining competitions.

The cross-country and dressage phases of the eventing competition will take place at the Le Pin National Stud in Orne region while the 160 kilometre endurance event will start off in the town of Sartilly and circle around the Bay of Mont St Michel.

The towns of Saint-Lô and Deauville will each host demonstration sports; horse-ball and polo.

Lexington in the United States hosted the 2010 World Equestrian Games which saw 800 riders and their horses from 57 nations taking part.

Grobon claims that this year's Games are set to be the "most international ever" with 72 nations having expressed entries in principle to participate in individual and team events and a maximum of 1081 horses are expected to travel to Normandy.

The final names of athletes and horses are due in the nominated entries in July.

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