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.
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.
Fair Hill is close to many racetracks, including Delaware Park, 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).
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).
Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races including both the Santa Anita Derby and the Santa Anita Handicap as well as hosting the Breeders' Cup in 1986, 1993, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2023. In 1984, Santa Anita was the site of equestrian events at the 1984 Olympics. Since 2011, the Stronach Group are the current owners.
Woodbine Racetrack is a race track for Thoroughbred horse racing in the Etobicoke area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Woodbine Entertainment Group, Woodbine Racetrack manages and hosts Canada's most famous race, the King'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 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.
Go For Wand was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse.
Skip Away, was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who was the 1998 Horse of the Year, 1996 Champion Three-Year-Old, and 1997 and 1998 Champion Handicap Horse. He won 10 Grade One races for $9,616,360 in prize money.
Gulfstream Park is a Thoroughbred horse race track, casino and outdoor entertainment and shopping destination in Hallandale Beach, Florida, United States. It is among the most important venues for horse racing in the United States, and is open 365 days a year.
Laurel Park, formerly Laurel Race Course, is an American thoroughbred racetrack located just outside Laurel, Maryland which opened in 1911. The track is 1+1⁄8 miles in circumference. Its name was changed to "Laurel Race Course" for several decades until returning to the "Laurel Park" designation in 1994.
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.
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.
Bowie Race Track was an American horse racing track located just outside the city limits of Bowie, Maryland. It operated from 1914 through 1985. The facility is now a training center for Thoroughbred racehorses.
Silmaril 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 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.
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. 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 April 4, 2019, became the sixth trainer in North American racing history to record 6,000 wins. As at February 2, 202023 he is ranked sixth all time in career wins with 6,301.
Paynter was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse noted for a three-year-old racing season that included a second-place finish in the 2012 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, 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.
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. Horse racing remains a popular sport throughout the United States.