Fair Hill Training Center

Last updated
Barbaro walking to the track at Fair Hill a week after winning the Kentucky Derby. Barbaro-005.jpg
Barbaro walking to the track at Fair Hill a week after winning the Kentucky Derby.

Fair Hill Training Center is a racehorse training center based in Fair Hill, Maryland. It was owned by William du Pont, Jr. of the well-known Du Pont family, who bought the land in 1926. Dupont invested a substantial amount of money to make the property a leading breeding and training farm for his Thoroughbred racehorses. The State of Maryland purchased Fair Hill in 1974, converting the then 5,700-acre (23 km2) property into an equine training complex and a natural resource center. There are 17 privately owned barns, with more than 450 stalls. Each barn has its own set of turn out paddocks and porta pens. Barns here at Fair Hill were individually named after some of the du Pont thoroughbred champions such as Parlo, Chevation and Fairy Chant.

Contents

There are two race tracks: a mile dirt track and a 7/8-mile track with an artificial surface (Tapeta). The campus also includes 3,000 acres (12 km²) of grasslands and woods which can be used by trainers who wish to take their horses out on trails.

Location

Fair Hill is close to many racetracks, including Delaware Park (Delaware), Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course (Maryland), Parx Racing and Penn National Race Course (Pennsylvania), Monmouth Park Racetrack and the Meadowlands Racetrack (New Jersey), Aqueduct Racetrack and Belmont Park (New York), and Charles Town Races (West Virginia).

Major successes

Fair Hill's grade one successes include the Kentucky Derby (Barbaro, Animal Kingdom), the Breeders' Cup Turf (Better Talk Now), Breeders' Cup Distaff (Round Pond), the Arlington Million (Kicken Kris), the Barbaro Stakes at Delaware Park (Xchanger) and (Chelokee), and the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (Film Maker).

Related Research Articles

Woodbine Racetrack

Woodbine Racetrack is a racetrack for thoroughbred horse racing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Woodbine Entertainment Group, Woodbine Racetrack manages and hosts Canada's most famous race, The Queen's Plate. The track was opened in 1956 with a one-mile oval dirt track, as well as a seven-eights turf course. It has been extensively remodeled since 1993, and since 1994 has had three racecourses.

Pimlico Race Course American thoroughbred horse racetrack

Pimlico Race Course is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of Olde Ben Pimlico's Tavern in London. The racetrack is nicknamed "Old Hilltop" after a small rise in the infield that became a favorite gathering place for thoroughbred trainers and race enthusiasts. It is currently owned by the Stronach Group.

Go For Wand was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse.

Delaware Park is an American Thoroughbred horse racing track, casino, and golf course in Stanton, Delaware. It is located just outside the city of Wilmington, and about 30 miles from Philadelphia.

Street Sense (horse) American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Street Sense is an American Thoroughbred racehorse, U.S. Champion Two-Year-Old Colt (2006) and winner of the 2007 Kentucky Derby and the 2007 Travers Stakes. He was also the runner-up in the 2007 Preakness Stakes by a head. Owned and bred by James B. Tafel, Street Sense is out of Bedazzle, a granddaughter of Northern Dancer, and his sire is 2002 Dubai World Cup-winner Street Cry.

The Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile is a 1-mile (1.6 km) Weight for Age stakes race for thoroughbred racehorses three years old and up. As its name implies, it is part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, the de facto year-end championship for North American thoroughbred racing, and is run on a dirt course. This contrasts with the similar Breeders' Cup Mile, run on grass. All Breeders' Cups to date have been conducted in the United States, with the exception of the 1996 event in Canada.

John J. Tammaro Jr. was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer.

The Bowie Race Track was a horse racing track located just outside the city limits of Bowie, Maryland. The one mile oval racetrack, known as Prince George's Park, was opened October 1, 1914 under the auspices of the Southern Maryland Agricultural Society. A major attraction in the area, easy access for racetrack patrons was available from the WB&A Railroad which ran trains every five minutes from the Liberty Street Station in Baltimore for which they charged 65¢ for a round-trip ticket. Admission to the grounds and grandstand was $1.00.

Virgil W. Raines was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer.

Silmaril (foaled March 31, 2001 in Maryland is an American thoroughbred mare racehorse. She is sired by stakes winner, Diamond, who in turn was sired by leading North American sire, Mr. Prospector. She was out of the mare, Kattebuck, whose sire was the 1985 United States Horse of the Year, Spend A Buck.

Marion duPont Scott

Marion duPont Scott was a thoroughbred horsebreeder who operated a racing stable for both flat and steeplechase racing. She was the last private owner of Montpelier, the mansion and land estate of former United States President James Madison.

Old Fashioned is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was one of the top winterbook favorites for the 2009 Kentucky Derby until an injury in April's Arkansas Derby forced him to retire.

The Maryland Sprint Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually during the third week of May at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. A Grade III event open to horses three-years-old and up, it is contested on dirt over a distance of six furlongs.

Thomas Joseph Kelly was a United States Racing Hall of Fame trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses as well as an owner and breeder.

William du Pont Jr.

William Francis du Pont Jr. was an English-born, American businessman and banker, and a prominent figure in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing. He developed and designed more than 20 racing venues, including Fair Hill at his 5,000-acre estate in Maryland. A member of the Delaware Du Pont family, he was the son of William du Pont and Annie Rogers Zinn, and brother to Marion duPont Scott, a noted horsewoman and breeder.

Thomas J. Healey was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame trainer.

Jane du Pont Lunger was an American heiress, philanthropist, and an owner/breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses. A sixth-generation member of Delaware's prominent Du Pont family, her father, Philip Francis du Pont, was a major benefactor to the University of Virginia.

Scott A. Lake is an American trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses who, on December 15, 2010, became the sixth trainer in North American racing history to record 5,000 wins. As at January 29, 2012 he is ranked sixth all time in career wins with 5,145.

Paynter (horse) American Thoroughbred racehorse

Paynter is an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse notable for a promising three-year-old racing season that included a second-place finish in the Belmont Stakes and a victory in the Haskell Invitational, cut short by a near-fatal case of colitis requiring abdominal surgery, complicated by laminitis. Most experts believed that even if he survived, his racing days were over. His struggle for life, regularly updated via social media by his owners, gained him a large fan base and earned him the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Moment of the Year and Secretariat Vox Populi Award for 2012. His surgery was successful, and innovative treatment for laminitis prevented harm to his feet, so he was sent to the Fair Hill Training Center for recovery and rehabilitation. In his four-year-old year, he returned to the track in June 2013, almost eleven months after his 2012 Haskell victory, winning the first race of his comeback by ​4 12 lengths, then running in three more graded stakes races, placing second in two of them, demonstrating his ability to compete against top horses. In November, 2013, he ran in the Breeders' Cup Classic and following the race was retired to WinStar Farm to stand at stud beginning with the 2014 breeding season.

Horse racing in the United States dates back to 1665, which saw the establishment of the Newmarket course in Salisbury, New York, a section of what is now known as the Hempstead Plains of Long Island, New York. This first racing meet in North America was supervised by New York's colonial governor, Richard Nicolls. The area is now occupied by the present Nassau County, New York, region of Greater Westbury and East Garden City.

References

Coordinates: 39°42′40″N75°51′51″W / 39.71111°N 75.86417°W / 39.71111; -75.86417