IRRIDESCENCE
(2001 black filly, Caesour--Meretricious, by Dancing Champ)
Champion 3yo Filly in South Africa

Irridescence was bred by the assistant farm manager at Varsfontein Stud, the famous South African nursery where the daughter of home stallion Caesour (Nureyev) was raised. Consigned to a yearling sale, she was knocked down on a bid of 160,000 rand (approximately $25,000), but returned when the winning bidder complained she was a cribber.

Bloodstock agent Jehan Malherbe bought her for clients Tony Moodley and trainer Mike de Kock, who raced her at 2 and part-way through her season at 3, when she ran second in the South African Fillies Guineas over a mile at Turffontein.

Team Valor acquired Irridescence on the eve of the 10-furlong South African Fillies Classic, a Grade 1 race she won and in the process provided her former owners with a bonus from her new connections. Bloodstock agent Robin Bruss handled the transaction.

Irridescence next engaged in an epic battle with Champion Older Mare Jamaica in the 10-furlong Gerald Rosenberg Stakes under weight-for-age conditions and prevailed gamely after a stretch-long struggle.

The rapidly improving de Kock protégé then scored authoritatively against her members of her own age and sex in the Grade 1 Woolavington going 11 furlongs. Having won the only two Grade 1 races on offer for sophomore fillies beyond a mile on the calendar, Irridescence was voted Champion Filly at 3.

Irridescence suffered the lone defeat on her resume for Team Valor when finishing fifth beaten about 1 1/3 lengths in the Durban July going 11 furlongs. She had no excuse, ran well, but was unable to make the frame behind a moderate pace.

Sent to Dubai with Mike de Kock, Irridescence was a most impressive winner debuting over 9 furlongs in the Balanchine Stakes, a Listed event for fillies and mares. Never under any serious pressure through the stretch run while making the pace, Irridescence proved a convincing winner over French Group winner Satwa Queen.

Rated officially at 102 before the race, she emerged a budding international star, pegged at 115. Timeform rated the filly at 118, representing a leap of several class levels.

Irridescence was meant to start in the Grade 1 Dubai Duty Free, which with an enriched purse of $5 million shared the distinction of being the richest race ever offered on turf in the world. However, on World Cup night she was too tightly wound, began hopping around when her rider was given a leg up and wound up catching a metal post with her right hind stifle, forcing her withdrawal.

A month later Irridescence ran in the $1.8-million Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup in Hong Kong, made all and won in a three-horse photo over locally-owned Best Gift and earlier Hong Kong winner Ouija Board, the highest-rated filly or mare in the world.

Weichong Marwing rode the filly in all of her races for Team Valor and the stable attributes a great portion of her success to him.

Irridescence remains in training the rest of 2006 in Europe and will run again next season in Dubai, Europe and Hong Kong

Bred in Zimbabwe, Ipi Tombe has given breeders around the world cause to reconsider their notions about where a good horse can be found. In her homeland, she was the best representative of her sire, Manshood, an unraced, but royally-bred son of Mr. Prospector and Indian Skimmer. Quite successful as a Zimbabwean juvenile, Ipi Tombe moved on to South Africa for her three-year-old campaign.

In her new surroundings, she was partnered with the remarkable trainer Michael de Kock, whom most may remember prior to this as the trainer of Horse Chestnut. Admittedly not quite fit enough from her travel, she landed 2nd by a half-length in her South African debut, with de Kock proclaiming she was far better than seen that day. His words were prophetic, as Ipi Tombe has not lost a race since.

Always seeking better competition, Ipi Tombe ventured out of her gender-restricted races, and faced older males in South Africa's most prestigious race, the Durban July Cup. Blocked for much of the running, she finally got clear and forged ahead to a highly popular victory.

Purchased by Team Valor and WinStar Farm after that race, de Kock took Ipi Tombe to Dubai for the winter. After a short rest, she rattled off an amazing trio of victories against some of the world's finest horses, while giving weight, and setting new time records. Her unbelievable comeback from trouble in the Dubai Duty Free Stakes was nothing short of miraculous. A national heroine in Dubai, she returned to the winner's circle to the rhythmical chanting of her name.

Transfered to America, and to trainer Elliott Walden, Ipi Tombe became an instant media sensation. The Grade 3 Locust Grove at Churchill marked her American debut, and she caused a collective gasp in the crowd when she literally walked out of the starting gate. Yet, while giving away 7 to 11 pounds to each of her rivals, she showed she is a model of consistency. Jockey Pat Day shut her down after making the lead, and she coasted in without breaking a sweat.

Successful at 2 in Maryland, Captain Bodgit ran third at Gulfstream in his debut at 3, after which he was bought and syndicated for $500,000 by Team Valor. The Blood-Horse characterized the transaction as the "best buy of 1997."

In his second start for Team Valor, "The Captain" upset unbeaten Pulpit to score in the Grade I Florida Derby. He won the $500,000 Wood Memorial in his next start so impressively, he was favored for the Kentucky Derby.

Captain Bodgit was post-time favorite for both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. He missed winning the Derby by a head in a hard-fought battle as Silver Charm prevailed after a prolonged stretch duel. It was nearly 5 lengths back to third-place finisher Free House, with Blue Grass Stakes winner Pulpit fourth.

Fans bet him to reverse the placings with Silver Charm in the Preakness, but he ran out of room and was beaten in a photo finish when a neck back at Pimlico. Captain Bodgit closed an enormous amount of ground in the final 100 yards in a fixture voted the "race of the year" in a fan poll conducted by The Blood-Horse.

Captain Bodgit injured a tendon, most likely when over-extending himself in the Preakness stretch run, and was immediately retired. A half-interest in him was sold for $1.25 million to Margaux Stud in Kentucky, where he entered stud in February, 1998. He currently stands in Canada.

The Deputy was the winner of only a maiden race from 5 starts at 2 in England, but Team Valor bought him, reckoning he had the right style for racing in America.

The medium-sized colt proved the notion correct, as he accomplished more on the Triple Crown trail than any British colt ever imported at 2 to contest the American Classics.

Versatile, classy and dead game, The Deputy opened his account in January at Santa Anita by taking the Hill Rise Stakes going a mile on grass.

The Irish-bred came back to defeat subsequent Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes hero High Yield and multiple Grade 1 winner Captain Steve in the Santa Catalina Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on dirt.

He met with his only pre-Classics defeat in the Grade 1 San Felipe Handicap, in which he went down by three-quarters of a length to Fusaichi Pegasus, who would win the Kentucky Derby. Veteran horsemen noted that the 5 pounds of actual weight conceded to the winner by The Deputy was worth more than the margin by which he met defeat.

The Deputy made amends by beating subsequent Breeders’ Cup Mile hero War Chant and Eclipse Award winners Anees and Surfside to win the $1-million Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby.

The brilliant colt was sent off as second-choice for the Kentucky Derby, but he never fired and did not race again. He hit the board in all of his 10 career outings, except for the Kentucky Derby.. He stands at Margaux Farm near Midway, Kentucky.

Prized was the first horse of national prominence for the stable, then known as Clover Racing Stables. He was raced in partnership with breeder Meadowbrook Farm. A Triple Crown bid was missed due to a minor ailment, but Prized made up for lost time by upsetting Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Sunday Silence in the Swaps, running to a script written by Irwin and trainer Neil Drysdale weeks before.

Prized further wrote himself into the history of the Turf with two other remarkable victories at 3 in 1989. In September he won the $1 million Molson Million on dirt in Canada, and in October he clinched the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Turf in Florida. In so doing, he became the first horse in racing history to win million-dollar events on dirt and turf in the same season and remains the only horse ever to achieve this feat. Secondly, he became the first horse in Breeders’ Cup history to win the Turf in his first start ever on grass.

Prized retired as an earner of $2,262,555. He was the co-highweighted grass horse of 1989 at 3 in North America on The Blood-Horse Free Handicap. His upset of Sunday Silence, his debut grass win in the Breeders’ Cup and his dirt/turf wins in million-dollar races insure that he will forever be remembered in the annals of racing.

A useful all-around sire, he stands at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.

Star of Cozzene’s spirited rivalry with two-time Breeders’ Cup hero Lure caught the fancy of an entire nation and inspired comparisons to the matches between Alydar and Affirmed decades earlier.

In the Early Times turf series, Lure beat Star of Cozzene at Churchill Downs and Pimlico, but was deprived of a $1 million bonus when the Team Valor horse upset the Claiborne charge at Belmont Park in the Manhattan Handicap, the final leg of the series. Star of Cozzene also beat Lure in the Caesar’s International at Atlantic City.

Star of Cozzene subsequently won the Arlington Million by the longest margin at the shortest odds in the race’s history and ended his Team Valor career by easily winning the Grade 1 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park.

After earning more than $2 million for his Team Valor investors, Star of Cozzene was sold for $3 million to a Japanese horseman near the end of his racing career. He is at stud in Japan.

Political Ambition was an unraced colt when bought early at 3 by Barry Irwin as the stable's first syndicated runner.

He developed slowly, starting out in the late spring, winning at Del Mar, then blossoming quickly in the fall to win the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby. Capping off his season he ran third against older runners in the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Handicap. At season’s end he shared topweight on The Blood-Horse Free Handicap among 3-year-olds on grass.

Political Ambition was even better at 4, taking the Grade 1 Hollywood Invitational Turf Handicap, in the process breaking the course record for 1 ¼ miles with a 1:58 4/5 clocking that stood for several years.

Successful from 8 to 10 furlongs, Political Ambition as an older horse proved most effective at a mile, the former front runner learning late in life to relax and come with a devastating turn of foot.

He was second choice for the Breeders’ Cup Mile at 5, but reinjured a front ankle and was retired the winner of half his 18 races. He became a successful sire in Argentina.

When Team Valor bought Golden Ballet at 2 after breaking her maiden, Barry Irwin was quoted on the stable’s website as saying the beautifully bodied filly looked like a female Secretariat. Even some of the stable’s own trainers chided him for the comparison. By the time the golden chestnut was retired in the summer of her near-Championship season at 3, nobody was laughing anymore.

So impressive was her lone start for Team Valor at 2, when she won the Cinderella Stakes at Hollywood Park by 8 lengths, that Mike Watchmaker put her at the top of his listing of the best fillies of her generation in Daily Racing Form. Except for a short period, Golden Ballet would stay atop the DRF leader board until mid-September of her 3-year-old season, 3 months after her retirement.

Golden Ballet became the only runner other than Serena’s Song to take Santa Anita’s three Graded stakes for 3-year-old fillies, which include the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks and Grade 1 Las Virgenes Stakes.

Syndicated at 2 for $550,000, she sold as a broodmare prospect at 3 for $1.6 million with earnings of more than $725,000.

Cashier’s Dream broke her maiden with a $50,000 claiming tag in her racing debut, then won an allowance race at Churchill Downs, after which she was acquired by Team Valor.

Making her first start in the crimson and forest green silks of Kentucky-based Team Valor, the chestnut speedster won the Grade 3 Debutante Stakes, in the process shattering the Churchill Downs record for 5 ½ furlongs with a startling clocking of 1:02 2/5, the fastest time recorded by a filly in the history of the Turf and matching the fastest mark run by a 2-year-old regardless of sex.

She confirmed her brilliance in her next start, when she failed by a neck to hold off subsequent multiple Grade 1-winning You in the Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes. Final time of 1:15 is the fastest time ever run by a 2-year-old of any sex and the fastest for the distance at Saratoga since Affirmed ran 1:15 2/5 to win the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes in 1977. Cashier’s Dream had to give 7 pounds in weight to the winner, prompting more than one seasoned veteran to remark that on sheer handicapping Cashier’s Dream had run a better race than the winner.

Daily Racing Form columnist Joe Hirsch, who has been covering Saratoga since the 1940s, described the Adirondack as one of the greatest races in the history of The Spa.

Cashier’s Dream next won the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes by 8 lengths. The quality of the race was confirmed when the hopelessly beaten runner-up came back to win 3 of her next 4 outings, including the Tempted and Demoiselle Stakes by several lengths.

At age three, she returned to her home track, Churchill Downs and won the Grade 3 La Troienne S. in her only start of the year. Tragically, Cashier's Dream died of colic a month later, at age 3, at the height of her career.

Torgau had won the Group 2 Cherry Hinton Stakes in the early summer of her season at 2 in England in a surprise result. She was sold to Team Valor by her owners, because it was determined the victory was a fluke and the filly lacked the kind of pedigree they thought would prove attractive to British breeders upon her retirement.

Making two more starts at 2 in the British Isles, Torgau would wind up the season winning the Cartier Racing Award, emblematic of the most accomplished juvenile filly of the season.

Sent to Ireland, she finished a game second in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes. Back home, she missed by a nose of winning the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket in a head-bobbing finish.

Such was the quality of her performance in the Championship Cheveley Park Stakes, which surpassed her effort in the Moyglare, that she was accorded high weight on the Irish Free Handicap.

Upon retirement, Torgau realized a substantial bid of $900,000 at Keeneland when bought by a German breeder with a farm in Newmarket.