Team Valor International enjoyed a decade of phenomenal successes between 2000 and 2009, especially with its fillies and mares around the globe. Nothing serves to highlight the success of the stable s international aspirations better than a recitation of these global triumphs. In the spirit of celebration at the close of this wonderful decade, the staff of Team Valor has compiled a list of the Top Dozen Achievements. More

In a scheme that proved beneficial to both the stable and a handful of brand new owners to the sport of Thoroughbred racing the year before last, Team Valor International has decided to make an annual promotion of offering newcomers a chance to buy into a homebred racing prospect under attractive terms and conditions. More

When Whatsyoursign strolled home by 5 lengths on Saturday at Borrowdale race course, she became Team Valor International s first winner in the African nation of Zimbabwe. Team Valor International this season has won races in the United States, Uruguay, England, France, South Africa, Italy, Germany and Saudi Arabia. The victory was win number 55 this season for Team Valor, which is enjoying its second-best year in terms of winning races. More

Gitano Hernando is now safely ensconced in his old stall at the Green Ridge Stable across the road from historic Newmarket race course in Suffolk County, England, reports his trainer and developer, Marco Botti. While Gitano Hernando was en route from La La Land to Limey Town, his newly acquired workmate Mesa Marauder was making his first start for the partnership that owns Gitano Hernando and his last start in France for trainer John Hammond. More

Unbridled Belle, making her final start in New York and her penultimate career outing, proved an easy 4-length winner of the $109,000 Turnback the Alarm Stakes this afternoon when racing at Aqueduct for the first time. The Broken Vow mare has made all but one of her 24 career outings and scored 7 of her 8 victories for Team Valor International. More

When 3-year-old Gitano Hernando upset a stellar field in the Grade 1 Goodwood Handicap at Santa Anita s Oak Tree meet, it marked win number 51 for Team Valor and its partners on the global stage for the current season. But more importantly, it marked the 18th stakes victory of the year, which is double the number of stakes wins of the nearest competitor among North American public syndicate stables. More

Team Valor International and Gary Barber s 3-year-old English import Gitano Hernando, making his first start in the United States, fought off a protracted challenge from favored Colonel John to score a well-deserved victory in the Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes this afternoon at Santa Anita. More

A 2-year-old colt that Barry Irwin says is the stable s best hope for a Kentucky Derby win since he bought Captain Bodgit a dozen years ago passed Dr. Steve Allday s vet exam and Irwin s physical inspection and is now being syndicated by Team Valor International. More

Mr. Saturdaynight scored win number 50 for a Team Valor International runner this year when he bulled his way through between horses to score a maiden victory at Oak Tree this afternoon. The 2-year-old Grand Slam colt is among 3 starters from 6 yearlings Team Valor bought in July of 2008 at the Fasig-Tipton Summer Sale and put into a partnership. More

Team Valor has done it again. The international stable headed by Signore Barry Irwin has hit immediate paydirt with recent German-trained, Italian-raced Junia Tepzia. The Rock of Gibraltar filly, who was prospected and acquired by Team Valor after a debut win on a second-rate circuit in Merano, romped home by a widening 3 lengths on Saturday in the $91,000 Premio Coolmore at San Siro in Milan in just her second lifetime outing. More

Team Valor International so far this season has posted victories in 17 stakes races worldwide, nearly double that of its nearest rival among American-based public syndicates. The 17 stakes were won by 14 individual runners in five different nations (United States, Germany, Italy, South Africa, and Uruguay), reflecting the international aspect of the racing stable. More

Kinsella made a successful return to racing last Saturday in an allowance mile at Saratoga. He won the race in style, making light of considerable ground loss as a result of having to begin from the 10 stall with a short run to the first turn on the inner turf course. It was a win full of promise for the future for this colt that topped the Saratoga yearling sale two years ago on a bid of $2.2 million from Barry Irwin, whose record in buying sales toppers at The Spa is noteworthy. More

The play book on King of the Roxy for the three years of his career was that he was less than brave when forced to race inside of horses. In a pair of starts on the comeback trail this season, however, while trying to mount a productive year in spite of a chronic and painful bone disease he developed that rendered him lame for more than 6 months last year, King of the Roxy in both of his races showed the kind of courage displayed only by the best, as each time he was forced to charge up the rail to win. More

Team Valor International, in partnership, sold a Pivotal filly this evening that topped the second day of yearling sales at Arqana s annual Deauville Summer Sale. John Ferguson, representing Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, secured the filly on a final bid of 300,000 euros ($427,298). The chestnut yearling filly is the first foal out of Team Valor former mare Relais d Aumale, a daughter of Rainbow Quest that won the Listed Prix Isonomy in France. More

Red Dust roared home up the inside rail in the final quarter-mile to power to a three-quarter length victory Sunday afternoon at Las Maronas racetrack to capture the Ensayo Stakes and take over the leadership of the 3-year-old generation in Uruguay. More

Team Valor International s Captain s Lover scored a facile 7-length victory this afternoon on a rainy afternoon at Monmouth Park, when she stayed in the field for the Grade 3 Matchmaker Stakes, even though the $200,000 fixture was taken off the grass following a significant downpour. More

Team Valor International last year undertook an unprecedented action when for the first time in North America it bought half a dozen yearlings in one fell swoop to form a package. The first buyers market in more than a decade prompted the unique concept, one that was embraced by 44 of Team Valor s clients, of which several were new to the stable or new to racing as owners. This year Barry Irwin returned for more of the same. More

The 2009 season is barely half over, yet Team Valor International has set a new stable record for number of individual stakes winners in a single year. Through last weekend, the Kentucky racing partnership headed by Barry Irwin has racked up stakes with 11 individual winners, one more than in 1993, when the stable set its long-standing record for number of stakes victories. More

King of the Roxy made a dramatic return to the races on Saturday, leaving no doubt in anyone s mind that the multiple Graded winner not only had life left in his legs, but that he still had a strong desire to go out and compete on the racetrack. The 5 year-old returned off a daunting 15-month hiatus from racing to prove victorious in the $50,000 Don Bernhardt Stakes at Ellis Park. More

Nick Ben-Meir, an owner of Graded Stakes winner Sailor's Cap, recounts the highs and lows associated with racehorse ownership. Reprinted from The Blood-Horse magazine. More

Jazzy circled the field today in the $65,000 Caress Stakes at Belmont Park to win by a half-length and spring a 24 to 1 upset of the 6-furlong black-type event that was run on yielding turf following a hard late afternoon shower and strong overnight rain. Racing next to last of 8 in the run on the backstretch, the South African import was taken wide to launch her bid in the final furlong and proved strongest at the finish to score as the second longest shot in the race over J Z Warrior and odds-on favorite Smart and Fancy. More

Team Valor International lived up to its name when Red Dust provided the Kentucky-based stable with its first winner in its first race in South America. The unusually colored 2-year-old broke on top and lead every step of the way. More

Team Valor Stables Unbridled Belle scored in the $125,700 Obeah Stakes (gr. III) for the second straight season, getting out to an early lead and running her six rivals off their feet to win by 11 lengths June 20 in the slop at Delaware Park. More

Sailor s Cap, who upset Sunday s Grade 3 Poker Stakes at Belmont Park, collapsed and died in his stall in trainer J. J. Toner s barn at 4:30 a. m. on Wednesday. Cause of death is unknown and an autopsy will be performed at the New Bolton Research Center in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. More

Sailor s Cap upstaged Kip Deville s comebacker with a layoff return of his own when he skipped home a clear winner of the Grade 3 Poker Stakes today at Belmont Park on Long Island, New York for Team Valor International. More

Daveron always showed more than a touch a class in her two outings as a 3-year-old in Germany, where she had a win and a close loss. Returned at four in a Listed stakes at Baden-Baden (Germany s premier racing venue), the elegant daughter of Black Sam Bellamy withstood a stretch-long challenge from a more seasoned rival in La Bamba and held on by a head in the Hotellerie Baden-Baden over 11 furlongs. More

Rachel Alexandra today became the first filly to win the Preakness Stakes since Nellie Morse turned the trick in 1924. She capped a dream week for her sire when his daughter Payton d Oro won the filly s equivalent of the Preakness in the Black-Eyed Susan the day before. Barry Irwin, owner of Team Valor International, bought the filly s sire, $5.7-million earner Medaglia d Oro, after he was retired from racing for his current owners, who stand him at their Stonewall Farm near Versailles, Kentucky. More

On Her Toes victory in Tuesday evening s postponed Classic Kwa Zulu Natal Fillies Guineas at Clairwood was as much a triumph for trainer Mike (The Azzman) Azzie as it was for Team Valor International and its partners and Anant and Vanashree Singh, because he pushed Barry Irwin hard to be allowed to run the filly in the testing conditions. More

Team Valor International and Gary Barber's Gitano Hernando punched his ticket for the June 6 Belmont Stakes with a bang-up second today when he failed by a head of pegging back the winner of the Group 3 Dee Stakes at Chester race course in England. More

Hull, unbeaten in 3 starts by a total of 16 lengths this season for trainer Dale Romans, will line up for the Preakness. Owned by Heiligbrodt Racing Stables, Team Valor International and Gary Barber, the Kentucky-bred son of Holy Bull won the Derby Trial on opening day at Churchill Downs by 4 lengths. More

When Hull skipped under the wire 4 lengths clear to take this afternoon s Derby Trial Stakes at Churchill Downs, he became individual stakes winner number 100 to represent a racing partnership formed by Team Valor International owner Barry Irwin since 1987. More

Hull exceeded expectations today when he dominated the Grade 3 Derby Trial Stakes at Churchill Downs, pressing the pace from the outside while extremely wide and drawing off to triumph by 4 lengths as the 7 to 3 third choice in a field of 8 for trainer Dale Romans and owners Team Valor International, Heiligbrodt Racing Stable and Gary Barber. More

Four-year-old Visionaire, who rolled home to a 2 -length victory last summer in the Grade 1 King s Bishop Stakes at Saratoga, has been retired from racing, it was announced by trainer Michael Matz. Visionaire most likely suffered a knee chip in the King s Bishop, said Matz. His next two races were unlike him. Surgery was performed by Dr. Larry Bramlage last fall, but he has not trained to our satisfaction, so the owners have decided to retire him, rather than blemish his racing record." More

On Her Toes survived a late-race hiccup and a review of the incident in the stewards stand to claim victory Sunday in a record-run renewal of the Grade 3 Umzimkhulu Stakes going 7 furlongs on the downhill course at Scottsville. More

Team Valor International is about to complete the opening trimester of the 2009 season with an eye on some of the stable s all-time records. Last season Team Valor set a stable record for wins with 67. With 23 wins already under its belt this year, the stable has a new standard in its sights. The winning strike rate at present is 26.4, well above the 20-percent mark with which it ended its 2008. More

Unbeaten Hull is going to be scratched from Saturday s Grade 2 Coolmore Lexington Stakes, as his connections have decided not to run him from the outside stall in a field of 12. Instead, the Holy Bull son will race a week later at Churchill Downs for the Derby Trial over 7 furlongs around one turn for a purse of $100,000 in a Grade 3 fixture. Miguel Mena, the third-leading rider at Keeneland, will retain the mount. More

My Kazzie scored a stylish 8 -length victory on Saturday in the first race at Turffontein race course in Johannesburg, South Africa. The juvenile provided a milestone victory, as the win was number 700 for a runner racing for a partnership formed since 1987 by Barry Irwin, the owner of Team Valor International of Versailles, Kentucky. More

Hull stamped himself as much more than a "one-hit-wonder" and as a bona-fide contender nationally in the sophomore ranks on Thursday at Turfway Park when he parlayed his debut romp at Fair Grounds in February with an encore performance saturated with brilliance. The recent Team Valor acquisition cruised by 7 lengths in his first start against winners and despite being held in the proverbial "death-grip" by jockey Miguel Mena for the entire 1:16 1/5 of the race, the blue-sky prospect stopped the clock just four-fifths of a second shy of the track record on the Polytrack. More

Gitano Hernando made a sterling impression in his Team Valor International debut at Doncaster Racecourse on Sunday in the northern part of England, storming home down the stretch to register a resounding 2 -length score in a Class 3 Handicap over 1 miles on firm turf. The win marks a successful initial step on the colt s path towards the Grade 1, $1,000,000 Belmont Stakes on June 6. The son of Hernando was acquired by Team Valor earlier in the year. More

Gypsy s Warning cemented her position as the top middle distance filly among 3-year-olds in South Africa today with an authoritative 2-length triumph in the Grade 1 SA Fillies Classic, leading a 1-3 finish for Team Valor International, which also had Sweet Theresa finished third in the 9-furlong race. More

Even though a decision was made last week to run Russian Sage in the 9-furlong Dubai Duty Free, Team Valor International owner Barry Irwin could not reconcile the decision and has opted instead to take the path of least resistance in the Sheema Classic. More

Barry Irwin no longer has to answer the oft-asked question Whatever happened to that expensive yearling you bought a couple of years ago at Saratoga, that big chestnut Mr. Greeley colt? Kinsella answered the question himself in emphatic fashion as the tall, athletic sophomore turned in a breathtaking performance to win in his debut by three-quarters of a length. More

Barry Irwin will attend South Africa s National Yearling Sale for a fifth consecutive year next month. The program consists of racing the yearlings in South Africa to prove them, then export the best ones to Dubai, Europe and the United States. The success rates have been extremely high and Team Valor looks forward to forming new partnerships this season. More

Winning Point rewarded the patience of her connections by scoring a 4 -length victory at Aqueduct on Sunday in the $65,000-added Am Capable Stakes and became individual stakes winner number 99 for a partnership formed and managed by Barry Irwin, owner of Team Valor International. More

Chiquita this afternoon scored a facile, eased-down victory in the Bauhinia Stakes, a Listed stakes at Turffontein race course in Johannesburg, South Africa. The nearly jet-black filly was always close up with trainer Geoff Woodruff s stable rider Mark Khan, who let her open up in the final furlong. She was perhaps 2 lengths clear with 100 meters left in the dash up the straightaway and was eased right down to win by 1 lengths. Time for the 5 furlongs on grass was :56 4/5. Purchased by Barry Irwin at the National Yearling Sale, the Western Winter filly becomes individual stakes winner number 98. More

Russian Sage had more difficulty getting into the Grade 2 Jebel Hatta than running well in the World Cup night prep, but everything worked out well in the end for the owners of the South African Champion. The Team Valor International colorbearer shared highweight of 131 pounds with fellow South African Jay Peg, who won the $5-million Grade 1 Duty Free last year in course record time. At the finish of the Jebel Hatta, Russian Sage and Jay Peg finished on even terms. More

Temair ran the odds-on, short-priced favorite Mother Russia to a half-length this afternoon in the Grade 3 Prix du Cap over 7 furlongs at Kenilworth race course in Cape Town, South Africa. More

Gypsy s Warning scored a facile win on Saturday running against older fillies and mares in the Grade 3 Acacia Handicap over a mile at Turffontein race course. More

In a move to strengthen its already strong hold on the 3-year-old filly division in Johannesburg, Team Valor International has acquired from trainer Ormond Ferraris and his Hong Kong-based trainer son David the Grade 3-winning filly Sweet Theresa. In her most recent outing on November 29, the powerful bay filly overcame an outside draw in a field of 15 other sophomore fillies to demonstrate that she had gears while fashioning a highly impressive 3 -length victory in the Grade 3 Hertz Fillies Mile at Turffontein. More

Team Valor International has acquired English-based Gitano Hernando and will point him to the Triple Crown in the United States. The Kentucky outfit syndicated him in a matter of 3 days last week. More

Joshua s Mistress, under an astute ride from Bernard Fayd Herbe, stole a march halfway through the 6-furlong Listed Laisserfaire Stakes on Saturday at Kenilworth race course in Cape Town, South Africa and held on for a gritty score. More

The national economy might be headed the wrong way, but Team Valor International hopefully is going in a different direction. To that end, the company hired Megan Jones of South Carolina this week to shore up its office staff, as it seeks continuity in the anticipated absence later this year when Amy Collingsworth takes some time off after she foals. More

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