From a waste and environmental perspective, using an existing and very functional venue is so much better.
It won’t be abandoned and decaying within a few years of the Games. And it won’t cost what it cost to put the venue in London 2012, then remove all traces afterwards.
I live about 30 minutes from Galway Downs, have showed there often, and I can tell you our local community is already super excited about this. It’s really the only venue that made sense in the southern California area within hailing distance of LA.
Already people are making plans to volunteer, myself included!, But also wondering about access to the facility as it’s quite awful- and traffic on a normal weekend is horrible in that area with only two lane roads and currently only two access points.
On the other hand, Galway should get a lot of superb upgrades (it’s already fabulous), will still save the Olympic committee a ton of money with all of the existing infrastructure, and it’s just such a super cool thing to have happen in the area.
It definitely has the potential to be very very hot though- but then again so was Atlanta.
I see a lot of shuttles, which was the only way into the Atlanta equestrian venue. But they’ll still need off-site parking.
Maybe they can open up an entrance off Los Caballos behind the track?
And one hopes that they won’t schedule any soccer tournaments. 
Maybe Vail Lake for offsite parking/shuttle service? No matter how you slice it, coming through Temecula Parkway and all the lights or the back way from the wineries down Anza Road I just don’t see anywhere to expand. I guess that’s why they plan these things years in advance so the committees have time to work all these problems out.
And I 100% hear you on the soccer weekends 
Another thought as I was doing evening chores – I wonder if we will start to see some of the big east names coming west over the next few years to check the venue out, especially with AEC’s there too next year. I was at the national championships there this past fall and it was… A very small showing to be as kind as possible.
Unfortunately it’s doubtful that they’ll fly/ship to Galway, minus maybe a few whose owners are gonna foot the bill for AEC or if there are some grants given… I love the place, but there are no other events nearby for them to attend before/after and it’s not a destination event like Rebecca.
Again, love Galway, but there are certainly places closer to LA better suited for showjumping and dressage and managing larger crowds. It’s too bad they require holding everything at the same place.
They will be building an entire new stadium to handle the crowd for stadium and dressage.
I’m not sure what you mean by “no events” before or after? There are weeks of dressage and h/j shows as well as 3 horse trials during the year (2 4-star) that are in line with other venues in CA. It is as much a destination event as Rebecca.
I mean horse trials. It’s not like they can pop 30 minutes down the road for another upper-level event the next weekend like they can in the mid-atlantic in the summer or southeast in the winter/spring/fall. It’s a 6 hour haul to Twin Rivers. 8+ to Woodside.
When west coast folks go east, it’s either for a 5* or they bring their top string and hit a few different events in a short period of time.
When I say it’s not a destination, I mean it’s not like going to spend a couple weeks in the wilds of Montana in the summer.
As someone who is a former boarder at Hansen Dam and is super familiar with Galway Downs, I cannot be more pleased with Galway as a potential venue. It’s got the space and facilities to run really nice events, and upgrades to the venue can be permanent. They know the footing, they have stabling for competitions, etc.
(Think of the difference between WEG 2010 creating permanent improvements to KHP vs the utter lack of any permanent horse facilities from Los Angeles 1984.)
It’s not like Sepulveda Dam wouldn’t also be a traffic nightmare, and because that’s a flood control basin, structures there would surely have to be removed before the rainy season. Also, the footing in those LA river basins is sandy, dusty, and deep. We conditioned in it, but with care.
For those who can’t read the LA Times article, there’s this: https://eventingnation.com/la28-publishes-venue-updates-for-olympics/
Based on our internet sleuthing, it looks like they’d have to build a new stadium because the FEI requirements (110m by 70m ???) are larger than any of the existing rings at Galway.
As a person who shows in Southern California having it anywhere where the improvements would be permanent and continue to be used is paramount.
@poltroon I was never very excited about Sepulveda Basin for all the reasons you cite. Plus, if it’s near a water source that runs into the ocean, I worry about Coastkeepers trying to shut it down.
Hi! What hotel would you recommend that is close to Galway Downs? Trying to plan ahead 
Thanks!
I’m one who was happy to see the move to Galway. My sister lives much closer to Galway than Sepulveda and I was not looking forward to potentially making the drive from OC all the way through LA especially during the Olympics.
It’s still going to be a bitch of a drive, but the trade-off of free lodging will cancel that out. The big thing, I’m sure is going to be the availability of rental cars and the cost of them.
this is from Eventing nation today. It makes me so angry they are looking toward forcing this down our throats. I think they are thinking if they push us far enough, we will either agree, or not, then they can drop them and say it was for health. Which would be so ironic because this would be so detrimental to the health of the horses, not to mention the event itself. I think doing this at the lower level and acceptance has caused this.
I honestly believe that for eventing to stay in the olympics, the IOC will force it to be a “showcase” style competition. XC less than 5 minutes and every fence within viewing range of VIP areas. I am willing to bet that 2028 will be a test event for it (albeit not in the final form).
As I understand it, the eventing phase of cross-country is already one of the most attended events of the Olympics, in part because the competition doesn’t require a grandstand seat for every spectator. If I interpret what I found correctly, they had 40,000 tickets for cross country at Versailles and the grandstand can only seat 16,000.
I’m not aware that they have had ANY trouble filling the venue on cross-country day at an Olympics (aside from Tokyo where of course people couldn’t really come).
I watched cross country live in 1984. Maybe we can take over Fairbanks Ranch again! (kidding)
Hmmm, I don’t actually have any great recommendations because I live 30 min south of Galway so I never need a hotel! Temecula and the surrounding communities (Hemet, Fallbrook, Murrieta, La Cresta) as best I can tell don’t really have any flagship hotels; you will be looking at Holiday inns and the like. Or maybe AirBnBs? Galway itself has some lovely residences right onsite but I’m sure they will be utilized for Olympic officials.
I’ve actually contemplated renting out my house in Bonsall for the two weeks and going to camp out in my 30’ horse trailer that I park at the bottom portion of my property 
it’s not an LQ but I can shower at my gym and buy a camp toilet. I already have an air mattress for the GN portion. And I’m hoping to volunteer and be at GWD most of the time anyway!
I did too!
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