Capla Temptress came away from her trip to North America with a Grade 1 triumph that was a huge success and a disappointing but hardly dreadful Breeders' Cup outing. Now she is headed back to England.
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Arles made the most of a very tight schedule and benefited from what Team Valor CEO Barry Irwin considered to be an incredible training feat from Graham Motion when she scored a frontrunning victory in the $200,000, Grade 3 Long Island Handicap on November 4 at Aqueduct.
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Belvoir Bay broke through on Friday's finale of Breeders' Cup Day One at Del Mar to win the Grade 3 Senator Ken Maddy Stakes, surging up the rail to land her fourth career stakes triumph for Team Valor, co-owner Gary Barber and trainer Peter Miller.
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Two races after a low-level win in England attracted the attention of Team Valor CEO Barry Irwin, Capla Temptress roared home for a Grade 1 triumph and free pass to the Breeders Cup with a sharp score in the $200,000 Natalma Stakes at Woodbine.
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On the same program as Team Valor's Grade 1 triumph with Capla Temptress at Woodbine, the stable's homebred champion Animal Kingdom was represented by his first Graded stakes winner when Untamed Domain prevailed in the Grade 2 Summer Stakes.
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Responsibleforlove and Joe Talamo unleashed a perfectly timed rally to get up by a head in the $75,000 CTT and TOC Handicap at Del Mar on August 17 as the 4-year-old European import landed her first stakes victory in the U.S.
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Love 'n' Happiness, a Grade 1 winner in her first race since being snatched up by Team Valor, has now been anointed as Brazil's champion 2-year-old filly. She is the 16th champion to be campaigned by one of Barry Irwin's public partnerships.
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Animal Kingdom, from just nine starters in North America, was represented by his second stakes winner on August 6 when Continental Divide prevailed as a maiden in the $100,000 Graduation Stakes for juvenile California-breds at Del Mar.
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Dream Mover delivered a dreamy start to his American career yesterday with a strong drive to get up at Saratoga over a 5 1/2-furlong trip that was well short of his bailiwick in Europe.
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A rainy late night at Churchill Downs didn't keep Nancy Polk from enjoying Sunny Skies. The 2-year-old daughter of Animal Kingdom became the first stakes winner for her sire June 30 in the $100,000 Debutante Stakes around 10:30 p.m. EDT, and Normandy Farm owner Polk, also Sunny Skies' breeder, was on hand through stormy weather for the filly's second win in as many starts.
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For the second time in three weeks, Team Valor International reaped immediate rewards with a brand-new acquisition on June 24 when Love 'N' Happiness not only scored in the Grade 1 Gran Premio Immensity in Sao Paulo but also likely locked up championship honors as Brazil's leading 2-year-old filly.
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Animal Kingdom's first runner in America and first anywhere on dirt drew off to win by 9 lengths today at Keeneland in a 4 -furlong maiden race. Sunny Skies, a homebred filly for Normandy Farm and trainer Ken McPeek, prevailed as the 3-to-5 favorite off a series of sharp gate works.
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From the the Thoroughbred Daily News's Alan Carasso, who may have been the first writer for an English-language publication to catch on to Va Bank back in 2015, comes the following on early plans for the Polish star s 5-year-old season.
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Earth Angel has a long way to go before she matches the deeds of her famous mother Miss Finland but she has started her career in similar fashion, with a win on debut at Ballarat. It was more than 11 years ago that Miss Finland was taken to the same track for her first run and she duly saluted.
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Team Valor CEO Barry Irwin spoke at length about public horse racing partnerships, from the various facets of the business to the process of getting involved, in a podcast interview on www.capitalism.com.
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The Vapors, a Var filly out of Classic and Grade 1-winning heroine Captain's Lover, is topping the first day's fillies at the Cape Thoroughbred Sales in Cape Town this evening in Cape Town, South Africa. The bay filly realized a final bid of 3.6 million Rand ($265,000) from Peter Graaf of Lammerskraal Stud in the Western Cape.
The shapely miss was bred and owned by Barry Irwin s Team Valor International in partnership with Gaynor Rupert, whose Drakenstein Stud was the consignor.
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Team Valor International occupied its familiar position at or near the top of the public partnership standings for the 2016 racing season, ranking second with seven stakes wins and tying for the premier spot with three Graded stakes tallies.
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John Box of Charlotte, North Carolina, came out on top of Team Valor's annual partner contest with the most accurate prediction of the stable's 2016 seasonal totals for wins and purse earnings. His prize is a free 5 percent interest in a Team Valor horse syndicated during 2017.
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