A Christmas Eve fire at Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Maryland destroyed an outpatient veterinary clinic there, but no humans or horses were injured.

The barn houses the clinic, operated by Dr. Kathleen Anderson, and is also used part of the year by Michael Matz, a former Olympic show jumper turned Thoroughbred breeder/trainer. Matz is best known in racing as the trainer of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro and 2012 Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags. The barn was empty at the time and the fire did not spread to other buildings. 

“We appear to have lost everything, but fortunately no horses or people were involved,” Anderson told Paulick Report. “There was a lot of diagnostic equipment: X-rays, ultrasound, the pharmacy, plus medical records.” Anderson told Paulick Report that barn was built in 2005 and had a fire alarm system, fire wall and sprinkler system. The cause of the fire, she added, was not known.