Fair Hill Training Center

Registration is now open for the 2023 Real Rider Cup, a charity show jumping event featuring members of the racing industry competing on off-track Thoroughbreds. Proceeds from the event will once again benefit the Fair Hill Thoroughbred Show, New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program, and the Retired Racehorse Project. The Real Rider Cup offers two legs of competition, the first leg at Mereworth Farm in Lexington, KY, on Jul. 8 and the second durin the Fair Hill Thoroughbred Show in Elkton, MD, on Sep. 15. Riders will compete both individually and...

Dual GI Breeders' Cup Mile Winner, Da Hoss (Gone West--Jolly Saint, by Welsh Saint) died at the Kentucky Horse Park Jan. 2. At the age of 30, the gelding passed away due to infirmities of old age.  Da Hoss had been living at the Kentucky Horse Park since January 2000. "We will miss Da Hoss greatly. He was a fan favorite as he proved that spirit can triumph over adversity," said Nicole Rivera, Interim Deputy Executive Director of the Kentucky Horse Park. "I would like to extend a special thank...

A Christmas Eve fire completely destroyed a barn at Fair Hill Training Center. The barn houses an outpatient veterinary clinic operated by Dr. Kathleen Anderson and is used part of the year by trainer Michael Matz, but was empty at the time of the fire. "We appear to have lost everything, but fortunately no horses or people were involved," Anderson told Paulick Report. "There was a lot of diagnostic equipment: X-rays, ultrasound, the pharmacy, plus medical records." Also suffering a barn fire over the holiday weekend was Glencrest Farm. The...

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) announced Saturday that it will once again offer "Ship and Win" incentives for horses coming from Fair Hill Training Center or Oaklawn Park to race at Aqueduct or Belmont. Owners of horses stabled at Fair Hill, in Elkton, Maryland who register an official start during the Aqueduct spring meet (Apr. 1 through Apr. 18), or during the Belmont spring/summer meet (Apr. 22 through July 11), will be credited with an $800 shipping stipend, excluding stakes races. First-time starters must have their three prior works...

On a bright fall morning in Maryland, Arnaud and Leigh Delacour are diligently at work at their Fair Hill-based stable. Arnaud is on the phone, talking logistics with various jockey agents while inspecting a youngster that just returned from a workout. Meanwhile, Leigh leads a troop of four exercise riders and their mounts out for a light jog through the rolling pastures of Fair Hill. When she returns, they'll compare notes and move on to the next set. It takes a special kind of relationship for a couple to successfully...

Every trainer deals with difficult horses, and sometimes they work out and sometimes they don't. There was a time when Graham Motion didn't know whether Mean Mary (Scat Daddy) would fulfill her potential. Owned and bred by Alex Campbell Jr., she was that tough. "You had to have your best rider on her," Motion said.  "You had to have her on the pony or she'd pull some antics going to the track. Nothing that was unmanageable, but something you always had to be ready for. She was just very tough."...