Page 25 - The Hunt - Spring/Summer 2023

On an early summer morning, substantial sounds are those of the horses on the
the mile-long track at Fair Hill Training Center is a hive of equine motion at a walk, trot, canter or gallop. Dozens of
thoroughbreds and exercise riders make their way up the long, gentle rise from their barns to go through their planned activities. Then they’ll return to their stables to be cooled down, washed and generally fussed over before retiring to their stalls for the afternoon.
For all the activity, it’s a largely placid scene, with the action spread across a few acres of track and tree-lined surroundings in the Maryland countryside west of Newark, Delaware. The only
Compared to the stables available at the racetracks, the barns here are like heaven.”
—Training center manager Sally Goswell
track—the rhythmic marriage of hard breathing and staccato hoof beats. All conversations between their trainers are private, the words dissipating into the vastness of the setting.
On this summer morning, the sun has already put in a brief appearance before receding into the humidity of a glowing mist as the clock hits 6:30 a.m. The horses enter and exit near the head of the stretch of carefully groomed dirt track, or diagonally opposite near the top of the backstretch, their paths depending on where their barns are located. A third entrance is through a tunnel under the dirt track that leads to the 7/8-mile Tapeta track, which is tightly embraced inside the larger circuit.
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