In the 22 racing seasons that Barry Irwin has raced horses in the partnership format, 2008 went down in the annals of the stable as one of its most successful years. Highlight among the achievements accomplished by Team Valor International was the 67 wins, which shattered the previous mark of 44, achieved twice in the past. But there were other records set that are worthy of mention.... More

Let’s face it—times suck. Everybody could use a little pick me up right about now. So to facilitate a cheerier mood during the next racing season, Team Valor International will reinstitute a little contest we will call “Follow the Valor.” Admittedly, it sounded a tad better when Barry Irwin first dreamed up the contest while running the predecessor of Team Valor that was named Clover Racing Stables. So the contest’s original name of “Follow the Clover” had a better ring to it. But the thrust remains the same. More

In the final race on the card at Turffontein on the last day of the racing in 2008 in Johannesburg, Team Valor International was represented by Gypsy’s Warning, who provided the stable with a seasonal record of 67 wins for the year. More

On Her Toes made her 3-year-old debut a winning one this afternoon at Clairwood in Durban, South Africa and in the process provided Team Valor International with win number 66 on the season, a total of 22 wins greater than in any other year. More

Team Valor International achieved a milestone 60th victory this season with the 4 ¼-length score by Trojan in a handicap at Turffontein this afternoon. In 2008, Team Valor has shattered its previous record of 44 wins in a single season. More

Team Valor International has live participants in four Grade 1 races in three of the world’s racing centers next weekend, when Visionaire, Sailor’s Cap, Becrux and She’s on Fire essay four of the most important races on the calendar in a global array of contests that underline the international nature of the Kentucky-based racing enterprise. More

Team Valor International has acquired the Irish-based 2-year-old filly Andalacia, who overcame a tardy beginning in her debut last week when smartly accounting for a 7f Polytrack maiden at Dundalk. The stable bought a previous Dundalk maiden filly winner at 2 last season in Miss Singhsix, who has emerged as a Graded stakes winner in the making for Team Valor this season in Southern California. More

In a scheme that was beneficial to both the stable and a handful of new owners exactly a year ago, Team Valor International for a second year in a row will offer certain equine interests in partnerships on an installment basis. More

Captain's Lover will launch a North American campaign on November 30 when French trainer Andre Fabre ships the South African Champion to Hollywood Park for the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes, reports Barry Irwin of Team Valor International. More

Tasha’s Miracle courageously put away pace-setting Dawn Before Dawn and maintained a narrow lead in the final 70 yards of the $100,000 Harold C. Ramser Sr. Handicap to become the eleventh stakes winner of the season for Team Valor International. All 11 of the victors scored in at least one Graded fixture. More

When 4-year-old Miller Time crossed under the wire three-quarters of a length to the good in a handicap race at Arlington Park in South Africa on Friday afternoon, he allowed Team Valor International to achieve a milestone victory number 50, making it the first time that the Kentucky-based racing stable had won as many as half a century of contests in a single season. More

Team Valor International, with the win by Fairbanks, increased its seasonal earnings to $3,183,234. The win, coupled with that of Chiquita earlier in the day, upped the number of tallies this year to 48 and put the stable 2 wins away from its first-ever 50-win season. More

Fairbanks underlined his versatility by rallying from third place behind pace-setting Barcola to drive to a convincing 2 ¾-length victory today in the $500,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup over 1 ¼ miles on the main track of the Chicagoland oval. More

Team Valor International's 4-year-old King of the Roxy has been retired from racing. A 7-furlong specialist, the well-muscled bay colt took the Grade 2 Futurity Stakes at Belmont Park at 2 and the Grade 2 Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park at 3. More

Captain’s Lover swept to the fore with half a furlong remaining and pulled out a three-quarter length victory in the Group 3 Prix du Pin at Longchamp on Sunday in her first start outside of South Africa. She was sent off a tepid 9 to 2 favorite in the field of 10 runners in the 7-furlong trial for the Group 1 Prix de la Foret, which will be renewed on October 4 over the same distance and course. More

Visionaire, a stunning winner of the Grade 1 King’s Bishop Stakes at Saratoga last week, will not be taken to the West Coast for the Breeders’ Cup, as his connections want to keep him “doing what he does best,” which they reckon are one-turn races over 7 and 8 furlong on dirt. More

Visionaire fashioned an improbable rally from some 20 lengths back to run away and hide from the best 3-year-old sprinters in North America in taking Saturday's Grade 1 King's Bishop Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths at Saratoga. More

Team Valor International and partners’ Captain’s Lover and Russian Sage won Equus Awards in ceremonies this evening in Johannesburg. Captain’s Lover was voted the Champion Filly at 3 and Russian Sage the Champion Classic Colt at 3 in gaining status as the best runners of their generation in the Republic of South Africa. More

Fairbanks returned to his best form to score a facile, wire-to-wire victory in Saturday’s featured Saratoga race, the inaugural $111,750 Duke of Magenta Stakes, in which he was sent postward as the 8 to 5 favorite in a field of 7 older handicappers. More

Barry Irwin out-dueled Olin Gentry, representing the fledging but well-heeled Legends Racing group, to claim a Storm Cat yearling half-sister to Lil’s Lad on behalf of Team Valor International on a bid of $1.5 million, the highest price paid for any filly at Fasig-Tipton Company’s annual Saratoga summer yearling sale. More

It took a while to get Chiquita into a race. The delayed start was well worth the wait, as Chiquita restored a bit of confidence to the Woodruff yard when she put in an electrifying move in the final quarter-mile to put away what appeared to be a strong field and win under wraps by 3 lengths in a 6-furlong maiden race on Wednesday in Durban at Clairwood. More

The 2007-2008 South African racing season ended July 31 and last weekend it was announced that Team Valor International had 4 individuals nominated for an Equus Award, which is South Africa’s equivalent to an Eclipse Award. Team Valor is the only owner with as many as 4 nominees. More

(SOLD OUT) Team Valor International did something it normally does not do in North America, which is buy a group of unraced horses and offer them in one package. But when stable owner Barry Irwin found not only quality but a rare buyers' market at this week's Fasig-Tipton Company's annual July sale of selected yearlings, he availed himself of an opportunity to land half a dozen top racing prospects. More

Sailor’s Cap, dispatched as the lukewarm 7 to 2 choice for Saturday’s $600,000 Turf Cup at Colonial Downs, turned a wide open affair into a romp, as he swooped to command shortly after entering the stretch and won by 6 ¾ lengths in a driving rain. More

She’s on Fire ran her eyeballs out on Saturday to reverse a decision with the 3yo Eddington in the Grade 3 Jubilee Handicap at Turffontein and in the process received the ultimate compliment as to her well being, when Weichong Marwing jumped off second-favorite Dancer’s Daughter to ride the Team Valor mare for his old boss Ormond Ferraris in the Grade 1 Durban July, the biggest race on the South African racing calendar, in the process causing shock waves to ripple throughout the Turf. More

Russian Sage made his Team Valor International debut a winning one when he mastered Galant Gagnant in the closing strides to capture the million-rand Daily News 2000 by a head on Saturday at Greyville race course in Durban, South Africa. More

Barry Irwin was invited to speak before the Farm Managers' Club at their monthly meeting on Wednesday evening, and was specifically instructed to "tell them what they need to hear." Transcript of the speech is available at this link. More

Team Valor International has put together an eclectic assemblage of racing partners from different countries to campaign Grade 1 Cape of Good Hope Derby winner Russian Sage, stable principal Barry Irwin announced today. More

On Her Toes, in her third career outing, became a Grade 1 winner today when she came back on after momentarily losing command to post a dead-heat victory in the prestigious Allan Robertson Fillies Championship at Scottsdale race course in South Africa. More

Alexandra Rose, a Graded stakes winner in her native South Africa and North America, will be flown from Southern California to Australia next month where she will visit successful sire Hussonet. More

Team Valor International’s 5-year-old mare Stratos, winner of three consecutive Graded stakes at Turffontein race course, was voted the Champion Older Female in award ceremonies presented by the Racing Association. The awards honored the best of the best to race this season on the Highveld. More

She's On Fire ran second in the GommaGomma Challenge on Saturday With a purse of $463,000, the Grade 1 is the richest race on the South African calendar. More

Team Valor International and Vision Racing LLC's Visionaire was the first name drawn out of the box at 11 a.m. on Wednesday to earn his connections the first choice of post positions later that evening at the "draw". Trainer and owners conferred and settled on post position 8, the same post from which Barbaro emerged two years earlier. More

Multiple stakes winner Stratos, who this season at Turffontein capped off a hat trick of Graded wins at Turffontein with a Grade 1 score in the Empress Club Stakes, has been retired to stud, it was announced by Barry Irwin, principal of Team Valor International. More

Team Valor's Grade 2 winner King of the Roxy was named Ohio's Horse of the Year at the annual breeders' banquet held March 28 at historic Darby Dan Farm near Galloway Ohio. The good-looking bay also received a special recognition award as the leading money-earning Ohio-bred in 2007. More

She's On Fire ran off with the Grade 2 Gerald Rosenburg by nearly 9 lengths on Saturday, following in the legendary footsteps of the stable's famous mare Irridescence who won the same race in 2005, under the same jockey. More

A decision on Visionaire’s next start will be made after he has breezed next weekend. Michael Matz worked the colt a half-mile Friday and will breeze him five-eighths next weekend. The Team Valor International and Vision Racing LLC-owned colt flies from Fort Lauderdale to Lexington on March 30. “I want to see how the colt acts in those two breezes before recommending anything,” Matz told Barry Irwin this week. More

Visionaire, advises trainer Michael Matz from his winter base at Palm Meadows training track near Boynton Beach, Florida, has returned in “good shape” from his weekend victory in the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct. Next on the agenda for the chestnut son of Grand Slam is most likely the Blue Grass Stakes. More

Visionaire overcame a pronounced bias against closers this afternoon over a sloppy surface on the speed-favoring Inner Dirt track at Aqueduct to punch his ticket for the Kentucky Derby by winning the $250,000 Gotham Stakes. More

Team Valor International will form partnerships to buy yearlings at next month's sale in South Africa. They will begin racing in that nation and the good ones will find their way to the United States, Dubai and Europe. The stable has enjoyed unprecedented success in the initial few forays into these ventures. To read about the 2008 model and see a 12-minute video presentation, please review the full presentation. More

Top American owner Team Valor has become an integral part of the South African racing scene. Team kingpin Barry Irwin’s astute purchasing of locally bred horses has been a huge boost to the country’s breeding and racing industries – in terms of both revenue and profile. More

Stratos responded to late urgings from Champion jockey Weichong Marwing to surge in the shadow of the wire and claim the Grade 1 Empress Club Stakes on Saturday at Turffontein for third-generation trainer Mike Azzie. It was déjà vu all over again, as Team Valor International, Weichong Marwing and sire Jet Master joined together for a second consecutive year to nail down the Empress Club. More

Temair roared to the front inside the final furlong when given her head by Bernard Fayd’Herbe and won by a length on Saturday in Cape Town running 6 furlongs up the straight at Kenilworth race course for trainer Mike Bass. The daughter of Tara’s Halls was bought by Barry Irwin for $50,000 at the National Yearling Sale in May of 2007. More

Colina Verde, the first to win Brazil’s Filly Triple Crown since her grandam turned the trick 29 years earlier, won her United States debut Monday at Santa Anita by an eased-down three-quarters of a length as the 4 to 5 favorite going a mile on grass. More

California native Aron Wellman, a 30-year-old attorney that Barry Irwin has known since he was playing T Ball, has joined Team Valor International. Although his entry title will be that of Racehorse Administrator, Wellman will be involved in all facets of the Team Valor operation. Barry Irwin said "Our stable has grown in number of racehorses and breeding stock and our client base has increased as well. More

Barry Irwin did not let being in a different hemisphere stop Team Valor International from Acquiring a majority interest this week from Vision Sales LLC in its promising Grand Slam colt Visionaire, who slammed a field of other 3-year-olds by 5 1/2 lengths on opening day of the Gulfstream Park meeting. More

Alexandra Rose started the year off with a bang for her owner Team Valor International by storming to a three-quarter length victory on New Year’s Day in the Grade 3 Monrovia Handicap sprinting 6 ½ furlongs down the infield hillside turf course at Santa Anita. More