The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 2 plus 5 letter word ST LEGER
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
S
T
L
E
G
E
R
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "three-year-old event" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case three-year-old event = st leger.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.