"It's still a gamble," Ken Smith told Visit Temecula Valley in September, talking about the new solar-covered arena at Galway Downs. He and Tina Smith bought the property in 2010, when it was close to bankruptcy and likely headed for residential development. Earlier owners had tried to run it as an equestrian-only facility and couldn't make the finances work.
Sixteen years later, the 240-acre venue off Los Corralitos Road has something going on almost every week from the start of October to late November. Galway's visitor page says general admission is free at all of its equestrian events. You don't need to pick one big weekend. The fall works as a single season with a steady weekly pattern, and once you know the pattern you can plan a free evening or Saturday morning with no tickets involved.
Thursdays and Saturdays Carry the Season
The hunter/jumper weeks come first. Each one runs Wednesday through Sunday under the Temecula Valley National banner, produced by Nilforushan Equisport Events. Classes run all day, every day. The featured classes and the social events tend to land on Thursday and Saturday.
| Week | Dates | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TVN Fall 1 | Sept. 30 – Oct. 4 | Regular classes | Regular classes | $75,000 National Grand Prix and Champions Ceremony |
| TVN Fall 2 | Oct. 7 – 11 | $100,000 Top 12 Invitational Grand Prix, pumpkin painting at night | Hunter derbies and a hunter/jumper costume challenge | $75,000 National Grand Prix, rider karaoke at night |
| TVN Fall 3 | Oct. 14 – 18 | $10,000 1.40m Speed Classic, Yappy Hour with dog costumes | Regular classes | $40,000 American Standard Grand Prix, evening party |
Fall 1 ends today, Sunday, October 4, with jumper classics. The richest class of the run comes this Thursday, October 8, with the $100,000 Top 12 Invitational Grand Prix. That same evening there's pumpkin painting, the one activity on the fall schedule clearly aimed at families. The next Thursday, October 15, has the Speed Classic followed by Yappy Hour, which invites dogs in costume. Sunday of Fall 3 is set aside for jumper finals.
Fall 2 and Fall 3 also include child, junior and pony classes. If you have a young rider at home, watching kids their own age jump a course can hold their attention longer than a grand prix does.
The TVN pages don't list a general parking price. For hospitality, NEE sells a Cellar Society VIP package with breakfast and lunch every day, dinner on feature nights, and wine and beer.
Eventing Week Uses the Whole Property
Galway's October calendar lists the three TVN weeks and then nothing until October 28. That's when The Eventing Championships at Galway Downs begins. It runs October 28 through November 1, with CCI4*-L as the top level alongside CCI3*-L, CCI2*-L, short-format divisions and the Area VI Championships. Kellerhouse Presents runs the program, and Robert Kellerhouse is the organizer.
Eventing keeps the Thursday and Saturday pattern but adds Friday. In the hunter/jumper weeks most of the action happens in arenas. In eventing week, Friday takes the competition out across the land. Galway lists more than four miles of international-level cross-country track. According to Galway's spring 2026 report, Clayton Fredericks designs the courses, which now rotate through different parts of the property and run in different directions. Riders face different lines, and spectators get different places to stand.
Here is the tentative schedule USEA has posted for the top-level FEI divisions:
- Wednesday, Oct. 28: FEI formal horse inspection at 2 p.m.
- Thursday, Oct. 29: FEI dressage starts at 8 a.m., and the Adequan Guided 4* Course Walk is listed for 4 p.m.
- Friday, Oct. 30: FEI cross-country starts at 10 a.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 31: Second horse inspection at 8 a.m., then FEI show jumping at 9:30 a.m. with awards after.
- Sunday, Nov. 1: Area VI Championship show jumping and horse trials cross-country, both starting at 8 a.m.
The weekend is the busiest stretch of the fall. On Halloween morning, FEI show jumping and the Area VI Championship cross-country both start within the same ninety minutes. The Southern California Region Pony Club Research Fair also takes place on October 31, alongside the championships. It's for members, entries closed September 28, and no public admission details are posted.
The USEA prize list says food is available on the grounds. It doesn't announce a vendor village or a children's program for 2026, so it makes sense to plan a long cross-country morning around that.
November Is When Some Events Start Charging
The free-admission policy covers Galway's equestrian events in general. In November, two events run on their own terms.
The Inland Empire Hunter/Jumper Association Year End Fall Festival follows the familiar format. It runs November 6 through 8, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with IEHJA as organizer. Its event page doesn't give a spectator schedule, parking rate or food details.
The same weekend, November 7 and 8, German dressage rider Isabell Werth leads the "Autumn in the Arena" Masterclass, and it's ticketed. Eventbrite lists tickets starting at $108.55 and marks parking as paid. Sessions run from 9 a.m. to about 4:30 p.m. both days. A vendor village opens at 7 a.m., and Werth signs books and poses for photos over lunch. The organizer, Entrigue, also sells a VIP option with covered seating, meals, drinks, dedicated parking and a Saturday evening meet-and-greet.
The last event of the fall is the American Driving Society Annual Meeting Weekend, from Thursday, November 19 to Sunday, November 22. Everyone attending has to register. The cost is $275 for active members and $375 for nonmembers, the Saturday gala is included, and the deadline is October 15. Registered attendees can audit Friday dressage and Saturday cones lessons. Saturday also has an Attelage driving event, and the weekend ends with a Sunday poker drive. The draft schedule lists taco and burger trucks at lunch, from noon to 1 p.m. on Friday and noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
If you've never watched carriage driving, this is the event that needs attention now. The registration deadline falls during TVN Fall 3, more than a month before the weekend itself.
The Covered Arena Is Built to Lengthen the Season
A busy fall at Galway doesn't fully capture where the property is headed. The new cover spans 44,250 square feet over what competitors knew as the warm-up ring for the Grand Prix Arena. The riding area under it measures 152 by 250 feet, with a hospitality area next to it. The solar panels on the roof are projected to produce 747,539 kilowatt hours a year, which would cover all of the property's power needs based on past usage. The September article said the Smiths expected to hold an "arena warming" in late August or early September.
Kellerhouse gave the reason it matters in the same piece: "Some equestrian event producers won't even consider a venue if it doesn't have a covered arena." San Diego dressage rider Rebecca Rigdon said she hopes it helps bring international CDI dressage competitions back to Galway, along with riders from Canada and the Northwest who don't get good winter weather at home. Until now, the only other covered competition arenas in Southern California were at places like Del Mar Horsepark and the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, both built in the 1980s and '90s.
The investment followed a setback. In 2025, LA28 removed Galway Downs from consideration for Olympic equestrian events, even though the Los Angeles City Council had already voted to approve it. Ken Smith told The Chronicle of the Horse at the time that Galway would keep hosting elite national and international competitions. This fall's calendar shows him keeping that promise. The covered arena is how the Smiths plan to fill more weeks in future years.
Getting There and Staying for a Glass
Galway Downs is at 38801 Los Corralitos Road. From I-15, take Highway 79 south and go east on Temecula Parkway for 6.5 miles to Los Caballos Road. Turn left, drive half a mile to Los Corralitos Road, turn right, and follow the signs to the Equestrian entrance. Galway runs more than a dozen arenas, so on a Saturday it helps to know which ring the feature class is in before you walk over from parking. The full schedule is on the Galway Downs events calendar, and eventing day times are on the USEA event page.
Two wineries on the De Portola Wine Trail have ties to the venue. Danza del Sol and Masia de la Vinya poured at the VIP cross-country experience during the spring 2026 international. Their own calendars include Wine Down Fridays, game nights and live music on the patio. That makes the Friday of eventing week an easy pairing: cross-country starts at 10 a.m., and Wine Down Fridays are on the winery calendars.
Some people watch a cross-country morning at Galway and start wondering what it would take to keep a horse of their own nearby. When that question comes up, the answer depends on land: usable acreage, zoning, and whether a barn actually works for daily care or only looks good in photos. Erin Archibek Mills has worked with horse properties across the Temecula Valley since 2005 and is happy to talk through what that looks like in practice. Let's Connect.
