For the first time ever this Saturday, the Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs will serve as a qualifying race for the Kentucky Derby. The winning horse will secure a spot in the field for the 151st running at the world’s most famous horse race at Churchill Downs on May 3.
“The excitement has been building,” Jill Byrne, vice president of strategic planning for the Virginia Equine Alliance trade group, told the Daily Progress. “The Kentucky Derby is the one horse race that transcends the horse industry. Even people who don’t follow it know what it is. This is a very big event for the commonwealth and its thoroughbred industry.”
Byrne spoke with The Daily Progress at the Ingleside Training Center at Montpelier, Founding Father James Madison’s Orange County estate and also home to the Virginia Thoroughbred Project, a nonprofit organization facilitating the aftercare of thoroughbred racehorses across the commonwealth.
She said Colonial Downs in New Kent County, Virginia’s only parimutuel thoroughbred racetrack, expects every seat to be filled Saturday.
“We are sold out for Saturday and are expecting 8,000 attendees,” she said.
“This is a huge moment for Virginia, kind of a full circle almost in that the greatest thoroughbred of all time, Secretariat, was bred here in Virginia and won the Kentucky Derby Triple Crown. There are four Virginia thoroughbreds that have won the Kentucky Derby. People are being reminded that Virginia is still a great place to raise a horse.”
Woodberry Payne, a rider and trainer who has run Ingleside Training Center for 27 years, said Saturday’s derby comes at the perfect time to celebrate the Virginia-Certified Residency Program, an initiative that is credited with revitalizing Virginia’s equine industry.
According to a 2024 study, the program contributed a total of $86.2 million to the state’s economy and $1.8 million in tax revenue since its creation in 2016 — a reasonable return on investment compared to the $54.5 million the program has cost and the $14.6 million it has doled out in incentives over the same time.
A certified horse is a thoroughbred conceived and foaled outside of Virginia but maintains residency at a Virginia training center or farm, such as Payne’s, for at least a six-month period prior to turning 3 years old.
The program awards the developer of a Virginia-certified horse — that is, the person who owned the horse at the time of its first career start — whenever it wins a race in the mid-Atlantic, which in the industry covers a greater geography than is typically implied, spanning New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia and Virginia.
Developers of Virginia-certified horses earn up to a 25% bonus for runners in open races in those states placing first through fourth. A larger bonus of 50% is offered to the owners of Virginia-bred and Virginia-sired horses. That’s an impressive sum when one accounts for the size of the purses in some Virginia-restricted races — races in which the runners must be Virginia-bred, -sired or certified.
Payne said there is no doubt the program has been a success.
“It’s got me where I’m turning horses away,” he told The Daily Progress. “I stay at capacity. We just had over 500 horses go through the program. We’ve got another 72 horses now awaiting certification.”
It’s not just a big year for Colonial Downs. Closer to home, the Montpelier Hunt Races are celebrating their 90th anniversary later this year.
Established in 1929 by the big house’s later owner Marion duPont Scott, the Montpelier Hunt Races regularly attract roughly 17,000 people from across the country every fall. Scott, an heiress to the duPont fortune, an accomplished horsewoman and the wife of Hollywood star Randolph Scott, turned Montpelier into a world-class racing and thoroughbred facility in the early 20th century.
The Montpelier Hunt Races are considered the quieter, more refined cousin of rowdier races such as the nearby Foxfield Races outside Charlottesville and Colonial Downs miles away in Tidewater. Unlike the flat track at Colonial Downs, the races at Montpelier and Foxfield are steeplechases, meaning horses and riders encounter hurdles along the course.
Martha Strawther, a lifelong equestrian and executive director of the Montpelier Steeplechase and Equestrian Foundation, said the “Southern charm, warmth and graciousness of Virginia’s hospitality” has kept people coming back to Montpelier for decades.
“It’s what is unique about steeplechasing,” she told The Daily Progress. “The people come for a fun day in a family atmosphere, and it’s not so much about the gambling, but they all have a pool, and they’re all having fun. On the other hand, it’s fun to go to Colonial Downs and do the flat racing, and that’s all about having that bet. So they’re really two kind of unique feels for these events. And I think both of them have a great place in Virginia.”
Strawther recalled a conversation she had with a gentleman last year who has come to the Montpelier Hunt Races annually for the past 55 years.
“I asked, ‘Are you a horse person?’ He said, ‘Oh no, not at all. But this is the nicest event with the nicest crowd, and I come from Maryland every year.’ I also spoke to a young woman who said, ‘My dad’s been bringing me since I was a baby.’ It’s so wonderful to have this kind of continuity,” she said.
The economic impact of Virginia’s growing horse industry is measurable. A 2021 economic impact study by the Virginia Equine Alliance shows that annual horse-related expenditures by Virginia horsemen hit $239.44 million in 2019. The industry supports more than 5,000 jobs, with racing events and visitor spending in Virginia reaching $68.7 million a year and rising. Tax revenue in 2019 alone reached $26.5 million. The average amount spent by horsemen in Virginia to care for, train and board racehorses has been estimated at $152,331.
The money isn’t just going to horse racing, said Payne.
“In macroeconomic terms, which is the multiplier effect, the average dollar spent in this industry is turned over four times in the state’s economy. Within the horse industry it tends to be seven. The money generated from the machines [the historical horse gaming devices found in places such as Colonial Downs] is not just going to purses for racing. This is going to tourism, to jobs, careers, agriculture, businesses, tax revenue, charitable aspects,” he said.
Virginia’s ascendence is coming a time when other state’s equine industries are struggling.
“Virginia is the bright spot of the industry,” said Payne. “Unfortunately, the industry as a whole is in a contraction phase. It is often noted that Virginia’s program is growing very quickly, but thankfully, with the support of the legislature and the racing commission, we’re protecting the horsemen and giving good guidance.”
Byrne said a lot of other racetracks have had to close.
“Virginia is where it’s at right now,” she said. “Maryland is closing its racing, and a lot of the people from the Maryland racetracks are coming down to Virginia. There will be the same cooperation during the summer now as well, when Virginia is running, Maryland will not be racing. This is huge for the mid-Atlantic circuit. It’s helpful for the horsemen, for everybody, because our purse structure in Virginia is much higher. Maryland’s going through a transition phase right now. So, it’s one hand helping the other, and it’s a nice way for the industry to show places working together.”
Maryland is investing about $500 million to rebuild its racing infrastructure, Byrne said.
“Pimlico is being completely renovated and will eventually have racing full time,” Payne added, referring to the race course in Baltimore. “That’s why it is very important that Virginia and Maryland have this kind of circuit rekindled again, so that Maryland, and Pimlico specifically, can take a little break off of their race dates and swap them over to Colonial Downs for a while. Purse structure is the name of the game, and Virginia has a very strong purse structure. We need to maintain that. Hopefully we can get the expansion of the number of permissible machines, as well.”
As the industry grows, the needs to maintain quality care standards and operations grow with it.
“I hear it all the time: ‘I need staff, I need staff,’” Payne said.
With the help of the Virginia Horse Council, the Virginia Equine Alliance launched a campaign promoting awareness and education for the new generation.
“We’re going to work a lot on youth involvement,” Byrne said. “You don’t have to know how to ride a horse or groom a horse to have a job in the industry. And these are opportunities to keep the new generations working in the commonwealth. We need accountants, veterinarians, broadcasters, farm managers, people that fix farm machinery and equipment, fencing specialists … the list goes on. These jobs need to be filled. Virginia Tech has some great veterinary programs, UVa, too. That’s an area where the entire nation is really lacking. Large animal vets are hard to come by. We are looking to help people financially, as well, to attend veterinary school. Charlottesville has got plenty of plenty to pull from.”
Then there’s the aftercare of horses, something Byrne has been passionate about since she was a girl.
“Historically, Virginia equine lines have always been big supporters of our aftercare programs, and I’m on the board of the Virginia Thoroughbred Project at Montpelier,” she said. “My father was a racehorse trainer, and we had a farm in Barboursville. He would send horses that weren’t going to make it on the racetrack back to my sister and I. We would turn them into show horses, or if they needed to be retired, they would just be on the farm. Now, we have aftercare associations helping with some incredible facilities, mostly all running on volunteer work. Obviously, it takes a great deal of funding and finance too. At Colonial Downs, for every horse that starts, the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association contributes $15, and then the racetrack puts another $15, so every time a horse runs, $30 is being set aside for aftercare facilities in the state of Virginia, and then the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, which is a national association, additionally supports all the Virginia accredited facilities. They go through intensive scrutiny. Virginia specifically is very focused on aftercare.”
The aftercare doesn’t just benefit horses, said Crystal Wever, farm manager for the Virginia Thoroughbred Project.
“There are horses that heal,” she told The Daily Progress. “We work with the Wounded Warrior Project, providing therapy horses and education for our veterans. We also do an eight-week camp with the Boys & Girls Club focusing on various education aspects related to running and managing a horse farm. Hopefully we’re inspiring the new generation to stay in Virginia to work. We’re the heartbeat of the horse industry.”
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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