Virginia has a long and illustrious history when it comes to Thoroughbred racehorses – a history that includes the legendary Secretariat, a stallion born and raised in Caroline County who won the 1973 Triple Crown.
Virginia has been a great producer of successful racehorses since well before the Civil War, and numerous Virginia-bred Thoroughbreds have participated in the Kentucky Derby. The 1960s was somewhat of a golden age for Virginia horse breeding, with approximately 1,400 thoroughbreds produced per annum (4th highest number in the country). Today, the number of breeders in Virginia is much lower, and the operations are smaller.
The Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby, often called “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports,” is an annual horse racing event held on the first Saturday of May in Louisville, Kentucky. Since its inception in 1875, the Derby has been celebrated as the premier stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred horses, marking the culmination of the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival.
The Kentucky Derby stretches over one and a quarter miles and is attended by a passionate crowd dressed in their finest attire, complete with elaborate hats – a longstanding Derby fashion tradition.
The event attracts celebrities, royalty, and horse racing enthusiasts from around the globe, all eager to witness which horse will etch its name in the annals of history. The Kentucky Derby is not just a horse race; it’s a cultural phenomenon, a celebration of tradition, and more.
The Kentucky Derby is one of the three races included in the Triple Crown. The other two are the Preakness and Belmont stakes.
About Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state located in the southeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state, which smaller than Ohio but larger than Tennessee, is nestled between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, and was the location of some of the first English colonial possessions established in mainland North America.
Virginia enjoys a humid subtropical climate which is largely impacted by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay. Even during January, which is the coldest month, the average temperature in Virginia is just a few degrees below the freezing point. The warmest month is July, when the temperature averages around 86 °F (30 °C). The further south and east you go in Virginia, the warmer and more humid the climate becomes.
The main sectors of the economy are agriculture, federal agencies and military facilities. The Shenandoah Valley is especially known for its farms, while a majority of the federal agencies – including the CIA headquarters – are found in the northern part of the state. The military activities are centered around Hampton Roads, since that is where the region’s main seaport is located.
Northern Virginia is the part of the state with the highest-income and it actually includes several of the twenty highest-income counties in the United States. According to a 2013 study by Phoenix Marketing International, Virginia had the seventh-largest number of millionaires per capita in the United States.
Invest in Horses
Investing in horses is popular among the rich and famous. It combines the potential gains of investing with the thrill of watching your own horse compete. Investing in horses is high-risk since horses can be expensive to purchase and require expensive housing and training before you know if the horse will become successful or not. Only a small number of horses become champions but if your horse becomes a champion you can earn a very high return. This is especially true for stallions that can produce a lot more offspring than mares
There are groups that allow you to invest in horses together with a collective of other investors. Horses are despite this usually not a good investment for regular investors. Regular investors are usually better of investing in the stock market or in a mutual fund. The potential return might be lower but so is the risk. Investing in stocks will in most cases give you a better return than investing in horses. You will need to be very lucky to make a lot of money from investing in a horse or two.
I recommend that you avoid investing in horses and instead chose to open an account with a top broker and invest in high-quality stocks.
Short facts about Virginia
|
Area |
42,774.2 sq mi 35th largest of U.S. States and Territories |
| Population | 8,411,808 (2016 estimate)
12th most populous of the U.S. States and Territories |
| Capital | Richmond |
| Largest city | Virginia Beach |
| Largest metropolitan area | Washington metropolitan area |
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC -5/-4 |
| Admission to Union | June 25, 1788 (10th) |
| Motto | Sic semper tyrannis |
| Nicknames | Old Dominion
Mother of Presidents Mother of Statesmen Mother of States |
| Demonym | Virginian |
Did you know that…..?
- Virginia was one of the 13 colonies in the American Revolution.
- Virginians were instrumental in the creation of the United States Constitution. James Madison drafted the Virginia Plan in 1787 and the Bill of Rights in 1789.
- Both Virginia and Maryland ceded territory to form the new District of Columbia in 1790. In 1846, the land ceded by Virginia was retroceded.
- Virginia joined the Confederacy in the American Civil War. During the war, Richmond was the Confederate capital.
- Following reconstruction, Virginia was under one-party rule for nearly a century.
- The dialect spoken in Virginia’s Piedmont region has had a very strong influence on Southern American English. Examples of other dialects spoken in Virginia are Old Virginia accent, Tidewater accent and Tangier Island Elizabethan English.
- In 2017, the unemployment rate in Virginia was 3.8% which was below the national average.