Apparently the event is this coming weekend, but I can’t even find an entry list anywhere. Anyone found one?
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I wait for this event all year! I am lucky enough to live close to spectate
Is it my imagination or are there a few horses running the 3* that ran quite recently.
Has anyone seen this news? [h=1]Fair Hill International may not see full 5-star until 2022[/h]
Sep 18, 2018
ELKTON — Fair Hill may be the site of a four-star eventing competition in 2020, but state sports tourism leaders and Fair Hill Foundation officials say that it could take another two years to fully embrace the transition of hosting a five-star event, establishing it amongst the pinnacles of the equine sporting realm.
It could take up to six years in total to transform Fair Hill, currently the site of a three-star event, into a site worthy of 85,000 spectators and thousands more worldwide with infrastructure upgrades, according to Maryland Sports Executive Director Terry Hasseltine.
“You know, this is all going to happen over the course of time,” Hasseltine told the council Tuesday morning. “This is not going to happen in the next 24 months … When you look at the east side of Gallaher Road, it involves setting up a city almost every year to host these events. The goal is to remedy that in creating a new special event zone.”
Although state sports officials were confident earlier this year that the entire project could be completed in time for the newfound five-star event in 2020, the plan laid out by a coalition of representatives from the Fair Hill Foundation, Maryland Sports, Maryland Stadium Authority, Maryland Horse Industry Board and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) shows that the transition will happen more gradually.
The state is continuing design for a $20 million state-of-the-art equine facility, complete with an irrigated turf field and an eventing cross country course, with plans to go to bid by spring of 2019. Construction is targeted between June and December 2019. In the meantime, Hasseltine said that Fair Hill International could see a mixture of four-star and three-star competitions in October 2019.
The total cost of the facility will be funded through a public-private partnership with Cecil County and the various agencies at the table.
By 2020, Fair Hill International could host components of a five-star competition along with other equine disciples at lower rankings factored in over a few days. Two years later, Hasseltine said the expansion would be to a fully-fledged five-star event, hitting the minimum of 27 horses competing in those showcases.
That extra time can also be used to promote Fair Hill to the rest of the equine sport world, he added. Much of the design work is focused on delivering on infrastructure required for such a high-profile event like replacing the old seating area, adding a new irrigated turf course while widening the current one, and even live-streaming the event.
DNR Acting Assistant Secretary Emily Wilson noted that mentioning Fair Hill to elite racers during her visit to Kentucky quickly garnered smiles, but possibilities still exist to widen its reach to the 85 million people within a 400-mile radius of the site.
“It’s going to take time for us to build our reputation. We sit in the heartbeat of multimedia markets: New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore,” Hasseltine said. “We know we have the ability to have a bigger identity and and a bigger profile with what is a four-star event. We’re trying to deliver the amenities that people can expect from us in a world-class event in a world-class destination … Part of it in the early years is providing a visualization that we said we were going to do.”
Regardless of the delay, all eyes will be on Fair Hill. Elite athletes who compete in the the World Equine Games and the Olympics, which are held every four years, will be eager to find a more regular competition, Hasseltine said. With that attention, state sport officials want to make every attendee feel like they’re “getting the Super Bowl” or are being “treated with white gloves,” he added.
Other plans in the works are possible upgrades to transportation, which could include establishing a shuttle bus or working with Amtrak on how to bring people to Fair Hill, Hasseltine added. The possibility of corporate sponsorship is also being explored, as well as ideas to foster in Cecil County businesses, artisans and rural charm.
Overall, the challenge is to balance Cecil County’s rural identity with its future as an international athletic site.
“You want people to feel like once you’ve arrived, everything changes,” Hasseltine said. “You’re in this aura of a beautiful destination and a beautiful vista … We’re not building a Taj Mahal of facilities. We are building something that blends in with the aesthetics and the natural beauty that is Fair Hill in Cecil County.”
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Yes, all the horses who are running the 3* (and probably the 2* although I don’t track those very closely), have run recently (within the last 2-6 weeks). The vast majority were at Plantation, Stable View, or Morven, with a couple of exceptions.
Why wouldn’t they have run recently? This is the culmination of the season for all of these horses (or should be, occasionally a rider seems to think it’s ok to then take a horse who completed FHI to OJC CIC3* but that’s another matter.) I don’t think many want to come in completely cold to a CCI3*…
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I meant FEI events, not HT. I always thought horses got a break after an FEI.
A CIC is basically just a slightly more challenging HT …
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And actually for Morvan, the **, Intermediate, and Intermediate championship divisions all ran the same track. So essentially the ** horses just did a different dressage test.
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This article actually does not accurately portray the real conversations going on about this topic behind the scenes with the different boards and organizations. There is a bigger misunderstanding around the difference in the traditional 4* and the plans for the new competition structure with the 5*, and that is starting to blur the lines around the plans to “renovate” fair hill for these competitions.
There is no exact rule of thumb for how often a horse should run and at what level or speed they need to compete leading up to a three day event. The trick is to bring your horse to top fitness and performance so that you are competitive at the goal competition. There is no one recipe for this and must be determined on a case by case basis. There are general training guidelines we work with but by no means should these be considered rules to live by. And what we think is suitable for a lower level or inexperienced horse may not be appropriate for an upper level horse with experience. Every rider and trainer must be creative in bringing the horse and rider to the top levels. Some must run often and need to practice how to win. Others need to be conservative due to soundness or training issues and should only go for it at the goal competition. It is different for every combination. And, to be clear, the training program at FEI levels looks nothing like what one does for a horse trials at preliminary and below.
As for the question about the difference between FEI and National horse trials divisions, often they differ by only one or two jumping efforts. The FEI requires a certain minimum number of MER completions at FEI events in order to qualify for a CCI3 so many horses may have only just completed those requirements recently. A CIC event may be more difficult than a national horse trial but is usually run over very similar tracks. The biggest difference between the FEI and National eventing classes lies with the drug rules applicable to each. This also plays a part in how a rider chooses to prepare for the goal competition. We should not cast doubt on someone’s training program simply because they ran at Morven or Saddleview and are also headed to Fair Hill or because they did so in the national versus international class.
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Thank you for the long response with lots of good info 
I think it also matters how many competitions in the year have happened or are being planned. I think it is an important question, when we are constantly on the forum asking why a lot of horses don’t seem to hang around at the upper levels for long these days.
I was more curious about horses who did WEG, or the 3* shortly after WEG.
Are the qualification rules in the best interest of the horse? Genuinely curious, my post was not judging anyone.
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I think they are in everyone’s best interest since they limit the hardest competitions with the most risk to horses and riders that demonstrate a minimum level on competence. As for horses at the WEG, it is now customary for horses that do not complete a three of four star to “reroute” to a later event if and only if the effort they expended at the previous three day was limited to that of a horse trials. You will see many horses that did not finish Burghley or the WEG entered in the later three and four star events for this reason.
Jack LeGoff noted that the fittest your horse will never be is right after a major three day event. That didn’t mean he was able to turn right around and compete again. In order to be strong through a major event, a horse must have a good deal of energy in its back up battery so we don’t compete again for several months after a major three day. That said, with the short format, riders are experimenting with what the limits are to what a horse can or should do.
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The cooler weather Thursday & Friday morning should make for some fresh dressage rides i’d imagine. The Thursday night Low is 37 degrees F.
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Right now I’m just crossing my fingers and toes that it’s not going to rain on Saturday like they are calling for as of today. I’ll be doing my 21st year of outriding and sitting still on one’s horse for 8 hours in the rain is NOT fun lol
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Cecil County can’t even finish a traffic circle within a year’s time let alone of project of this magnitude…
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Same! I’m not an outrider, but I haven’t gotten to go the last two years because I was either competing elsewhere or was really sick. I’ll be so disappointed if it rains 
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Whoa whoa whoa ! Blueball is almost kind of a traffic circle ! Lol. So excited for Fair Hill !
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There is a reason the FEI would not give them a date when the 4 slash 5 star was awarded. There is room for speculation, but I can only guess. But with the two leads who helped them get the bid leaving. And no replacements. It makes me sad as I thought that this was going to be nothing but good for Fair Hill. So as to the real conversations, I think that is not real.
I’m out riding too. First time for me! Fingers crossed for no rain!!!
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