Now part of the Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area in the northeastern corner of Maryland, this horse-racing complex was originally developed by du Pont Jr. as a thoroughbred training center and racing track. The viewing stands, stables, betting office, other ancillary buildings, and flat and steeplechase tracks are remarkable surviving examples of the type from the 1930s, despite some changes in recent decades. Du Pont was an avid horseman and racetrack designer who assembled nearly eight thousand acres of land in Cecil County and adjacent Chester County, Pennsylvania, for personal hunts during the late 1920s. Du Pont extended his passion for fox hunting to the steeplechase race circuit, racing his horses and designing tracks and associated facilities all along the East Coast.
The Foxcatcher National Cup, named for du Pont’s racing stables, Foxcatcher Farms, debuted at Fair Hill in 1934. As completed, Fair Hill included a variety of frame buildings with board-and-batten siding such as stables, jockey weigh-in stations, betting windows, offices, as well as associated paddocks and a state-of-the-art turf racetrack that included both a flat track and a challenging steeplechase course with seventeen jumps. Since the State of Maryland acquired Fair Hill in 1975, private partners have expanded the nearby training facilities, and the Fair Hill Foundation completed major turf track renovations in 2020.