HOW THE FOXFIELD RACES WERE PRESERVED

And our commitment to protecting their future.

Foxfield is a long-standing steeplechase venue founded in 1978 that blends tradition, community, and racing. Today, a volunteer board of civic leaders is fighting to preserve that legacy for generations to come.


READ: Open letter from the Foxfield Racing Board HERE.




Foxfield Racing is in a legal battle to purchase the property on which our storied races have been run for nearly 50 years, to ensure the continuity of the races as intended by their founder, Mariann de Tejeda.


  • In 2016, concerned members of our community, who now serve on our board, began a successful, years-long effort to save the land from the development of a 17-home subdivision on the property.

  • In 2019, the race course was put in a conservation easement and our non-profit organization, Foxfield Racing LLC, was officially established as the purveyor of the races in 2020.

  • Foxfield Racing secured a 15-year lease and has invested in safety improvements, hosted dozens of charity events, and made the races profitable, putting us on track to donate $1 million to the local community over 10 years.

  • When new concerns over the property’s future arose in 2023, one of our new board members at the time offered to purchase the property and hold it until Foxfield Racing had the funds to purchase it officially.

  • Unfortunately, that individual has since refused to honor his commitment, and is instead attempting a hostile takeover of Foxfield Racing.

  • The leadership of the Foxfield Racing board met numerous times with the individual to seek compliance with his pre-purchase promises and was unable to obtain any commitment to ensure Foxfield Racing can continue to run the races on the property beyond the existing lease.

  • The individual has since left the board, made false claims about our organization, and attempted to confuse the public by dramatically inflating his role in the past, present, and future of the Foxfield Races.

Foxfield Racing has taken legal action to enforce his legal obligations and protect the continuity of the Foxfield Races – to ensure they continue to be run by a competent board of civic leaders, who have earned the trust of the racing community and, most importantly, the Charlottesville-Albemarle community.