Galway Downs was informed this week it won’t host equestrian events for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the Temecula Valley organization announced Friday.
The 242-acre site was approved by a Los Angeles City Council vote last month to host the 2028 Olympic equestrian competition. But after getting its venue master plan approved Wednesday by the International Olympic Committee executive board, LA28, the private committee responsible for organizing and executing the Games, informed Galway Downs that the equestrian competition will head elsewhere.
“We are extremely surprised that we were suddenly removed from consideration,” Galway Downs owner Ken Smith said in a statement. “We don’t understand how, based on the March 28 City Council’s vote of approval, that this could happen. When we started this process more than four years ago, we understood the equestrian venue selection for LA28 would be a highly competitive, evolving process. Being selected as the proposed equestrian venue put Galway Downs and Temecula Valley on the world stage. We’re very proud of that, and we’re just getting started. Galway Downs will continue to host elite national and international competitions as well as additional sporting events.”
LA28 spokesperson Jacie Prieto Lopez confirmed Galway Downs will not host Olympic equestrian events, saying in a statement that LA28 “looks forward to sharing more on our updated Olympic venue plan in the near future.”
LA28’s full venue plan has not been publicly announced. Equestrian initially was slated to take place at a temporary facility built in the Sepulveda Basin, but the plan shifted toward Galway Downs, where there was existing infrastructure to host dressage, eventing and jumping.
“Galway Downs has showcased its Equestrian Center in Temecula Valley as the superior venue capable of hosting all Olympic equestrian games,” Temecula Mayer Brenden Kalfus said in a statement. “While the City is disheartened to learn of this abrupt change, particularly in light of LA28’s venue approval granted by the Los Angeles City Council just two weeks ago, we remain confident that Galway Downs will continue its legacy and mission uninterrupted as a vibrant, world-class Olympic-caliber equestrian presence in Temecula Valley.”
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