FAIR HILL, Md. -- The horse trainers start to arrive before the sun rises to exercise their thoroughbreds at Fair Hill Training Center.
The horses trot, gallop and breeze around the 1-mile dirt track, preparing for races at Delaware Park or Churchill Downs.
About 400 horses stable at the 300-acre site, running along the edge of Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area, one of the largest stretches of undeveloped land remaining in the area. Surrounded by miles of public hiking trails and open space, with no loudspeakers or tight racing schedules, the training area is sprawling and tranquil.
"That's my group there," said John Fisher, who watched from the clock tower as Wilderness Trace and Valley's Protégé blazed by. His stopwatch beeped. "Good job! Good job!"
Fisher founded Fair Hill Training Center in the 1980s, and from the beginning, state horse industry officials have talked about turning it into something more -- a Lexington, Ky.-style horse park that could draw a million people every year.
Twenty years later, Maryland still is trying to realize that dream.
And even now -- after hundreds of Cecil County residents angrily opposed a proposal for a large-scale horse park in 2005 -- Fair Hill remains a possible site for such a venture.
The Maryland Stadium Authority abruptly scrapped plans last month to build an 856-acre equestrian park in Anne Arundel County, after several years of study. Leaders there, fearful of traffic congestion, said they want to turn the land into a public park and organic farm.
The Maryland Horse Industry Board is determined to come up with a Plan B.
"Maryland is one of the original horse-industry states of the colonies," said Rob Burke, the agency's executive director. With about 100,000 horses, Maryland ranks second in the country for density of horses per square mile, the industry says. That's one horse for every 56 people. The equestrian industry's economic impact on the state: About $1.5 billion a year.
Yet Maryland has no state facility capable of hosting, for example, a dressage state championship. That takes place in Virginia.
"We view having a venue like this as incredibly important to be able to market ourselves to the general public," Burke said.
To many -- including Fair Hill's founder, Fisher -- Cecil County seems the most practical site.
Fair Hill already hosts more than 200 equestrian events each year, including the Fair Hill International, one of the most prestigious three-day competitions in the world. It's home for offices of the Thoroughbred Racing Association and a state-of-the-art therapeutic center. And it was the state's No. 2 choice for a horse park in 2005.
"It's a no-brainer," said Fisher, who lives in Chester County, Pa. "There's a tradition here already established. There's lots of land. ... But I guess it's like anything else, it's not in my backyard. Because if you bring a racetrack, you bring entertainment, hotels. ..."
That's just what outraged many Cecil County residents two years ago when the state began seriously considering using about 800 of Fair Hill's 5,600 acres for a horse park. Early plans included a 5,000-seat indoor arena and a museum in the general area of the existing fairgrounds.
Several hundred people attended a public hearing in September 2005, many of them shouting objections to any development at the designated natural resource management area, which the state purchased from the DuPont family in the mid-1970s.
A smaller group of residents formed a group called Save Fair Hill to oppose altering the area's "unique and unspoiled rural landscape," which already draws about 600,000 visitors every year, including hikers, bikers and other lovers of nature. The group remains devoted to its cause.
The horse park would bring with it "mercury vapor lighting, loudspeakers, not to mention acres of parking lots, many new buildings, heavy traffic and blight in the surrounding rural areas," a statement on the group's Web site says.
At the group's behest, all five Cecil County commissioners signed a pledge prior to the November 2006 election, vowing to protect Fair Hill. The previous board of commissioners -- three were voted out of office -- had promoted Cecil County as a site.
"Right now, I'm not for a horse park as I've heard it described," said Wayne Tome, District 4, who is serving his first term. Commissioners have not been formally approached by horse industry board officials since the Anne Arundel plans were scrapped in March, he said. "At first blush, it doesn't strike my fancy."
Cecil County Economic Development Director Vernon Thompson said he remains open to discussing a horse park with the state -- but only a design that would be agreeable to the community.
"We're not making any overtures to the Maryland Stadium Authority or the horse board," said Thompson, who has concerns that without upgrades -- and with dwindling state funding -- Fair Hill will deteriorate. "We're very busy with other things. ... Are we open to a conversation? Absolutely. But the commissioners certainly aren't going to do anything radical. Our office is not going to do anything radical."
The Horse Industry Board's Burke said it could take months for new plans to unfold. Other sites considered in 2005 were in Harford, Carroll, Frederick and Wicomico counties.
"The board wants to make sure they cover all their bases," Burke said. "They want to make sure this project, which is so important to them, is done in a very thoughtful manner."
At Fair Hill Training Center, nobody -- except, perhaps, the horses -- is getting too out of breath. With slots in Pennsylvania and racing venues in Delaware, there is plenty of action already.
"Even though we're not Maryland Horse Park, we are Maryland Horse Park because people who come to [horse] events in Maryland come here," said Sally Goswell, the center's manager. "I don't think anyone would like to see the nature of the area spoiled. But if we can make it better, I don't see how that can hurt us."
Contact Kristin Harty at 324-2792 or kharty@delawareonline.com
