When spring rolled around each year, it seemed Jade Floyd’s friends invariably started to plan to attend the Virginia Gold Cup.

Although she wasn’t much of a horse racing fan, Floyd couldn’t help but note that the steeplechase races in Virginia’s famed horse country, which began as a 4-mile race developed in 1922 by sportsmen who met at the Fauquier Club in Warrenton, had become the most celebrated outdoor social event in the area.