ARCADIA,Calif.--When the equestrian portion of the Olympic Games were last held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., in 1984, the cross country portion of the three-day eventing competition was held at the Fairbanks Ranch Country Club.

Santa Anita racetrackIn 2028, however, the cross country phase will be held at Santa Anita itself, reports Horse and Hound.

Alex Lochore, eventing manager at the 2012 and 2020 Olympics, produced a feasibility study that suggested two or three ways a cross country course can be laid out using the racetrack, infield, and part of the parking lot.

Now, Lochore, who has no previous championship course design experience, will have to deliver on that study. According to Horse and Hound, as expected course designer Derek di Grazia reached an impasse with organizers from the FEI and Olympic Committee; the organizers told the FEI they couldn't work with him.

 

THERE WAS not time to work through a normal selection process for a new course designer; in order to be ready for a 2027 test event, the track needs to be planned out and the turf laid on the parking lot by September this year before racing starts again in October.

Thus, Lochore was voted into the position of course designer for the cross country at the 2028 Olympics.

Captain Mark Phillips, Olympic gold medalist and noted course designer, wrote in his column for Horse and Hound this week: "Alec [Lochore] certainly has a challenge on his hands as he now has to deliver on his feasibility study, probably on the most difficult site ever for an Olympic cross-country course."

This is Phillips' article in Horse and Hound.

 

Last week, the breaking news was that the expected 2028 Olympic course-designer Derek di Grazia had reached such an impasse with the organisers at Santa Anita Park in Los Angeles, they told the FEI that they could no longer work with him.

Alec Lochore visited the park earlier this year with his site manager’s hat on, to do a feasibility study for the FEI to see if all the Olympic disciplines could be staged on and around the racetrack – which is not what happened at the 1984 Games, when the cross-country was held at Fairbanks Ranch near San Diego.

Alec determined that there were two or three ways to achieve a cross-country track of between eight minutes and 8min 30sec using the racetrack, infield and part of the car park.

The FEI then played a major role in keeping eventing in the 2028 Games, resisting the lobby to drop eventing at Santa Anita.

Quite how Derek was unable to accept versions of Alec’s proposals put forward by the organisers remains something of a mystery.

The organisers said that they got on well with Alec and wanted him as designer.

The FEI was then between a rock and a hard place.

There was no time to go through the normal selection process due to the track needing to be set this summer, because to be ready for the 2027 test event, the turf has to be laid on the car park by September this year before racing starts again in October.

The FEI therefore went along with the request to appoint Alec Lochore as LA28 course designer and has appointed Mike Etherington-Smith as course adviser.

Both are due on-site in the next couple of weeks.

Many upper-level designers have been vocal in their disappointment, as Alec has no championship or five-star experience.

For the sake of the sport, I hope Alec and Mike can come up with a great course.

Alec certainly has a challenge on his hands as he now has to deliver on his feasibility study, probably on the most difficult site ever for an Olympic cross-country course.

This aricle appearedin The Paulick Report and Phillips' article in Horse and Hound.