Now that you have perused the information available on Team Valor’s website and are interested in getting started, you might ask "What is the next step?"

Start by contacting Team Valor by clicking here to e-mail the stable.

Your choices are as follows:

• "Team Valor Highlights" video tape or dvd
  Request a 30-minute general video introduction to Team Valor available on a VHS cassette or DVD format. (Please specify.)
• Sample LLC Agreement
  Request a sample LLC agreement in order to familiarize yourself with the legal specifics of participating in a Team Valor partnership.
• Specific Package on a Horse
  Request an information package, including a video tape, of a specific horse being offered by Team Valor.
• E-Mail Offering List
  Ask to be placed on a special list to receive an e-mail every time a new racehorse is offered by Team Valor.
• Speak with Barry Irwin
  Ask to speak directly with Barry Irwin, president of Team Valor, by phone at 888-434-2677.
• References from an Investor
  Ask to be provided with the phone number(s) of a current Team Valor participant(s) in order to question him about his experience with the stable.

Q: Do you charge a management fee?
A: No. We used to, but we dropped it.

Q: How is Team Valor compensated?
A: Team Valor is compensated in three ways: a) it marks up a horse prior to syndication; b) it receives 10 percent of profits upon conclusion of the investment and c) it gets a 5 percent sales commission when a horse is sold. Profits are defined as the difference between all monies in vs. all monies out.

Q: Does Team Valor deduct any of the purse earnings for its own account?
A: No. Some stables do this. We never have, never will.

Q: Do you maintain an equity interests in any of your horses?
A: Yes, every one of them. Some are minor, some are medium, some are significant.

Q: Have your clients made money with their racing investments?
A: Because financial gain is not the primary reason participants become involved in Team Valor racing ventures, the question really should be, "Have your clients received value for their racing investment?" The answer to that question is, "Most certainly." If the goal of Team Valor and its participants was to make money and the stable was operated as a business, horses would be sold on a timely basis. However, investors in Team Valor racing ventures participate because they want to consume or use the product, not buy it for resale. If "value" represents quality involvement by participants at the highest level of racing, then Team Valor investors have received it.

Q: How are expenses for training, etc. handled?
A: Team Valor bills in advance on a quarterly basis.

Q: How are earnings distributed?
A: Purses are paid within 7 days of receipt of funds from a racetrack. Within a week, owners of a winning horse receive a package containing a disbursement check, a video tape of the race, winners’ circle photographs and press clippings if any.

Q: How many LLCs does Team Valor form in a year?
A: About 20.

Q: What is the cost of a Team Valor racehorse?
A: Between $250,000 and $2,000,000.

Q: How many members are in each LLC?
A: Usually between 6 and a dozen, from virtually every state in the country.

Q: What is the amount of the average investment in a partnership?
A: Between $12,500 and $22,500.

Q: Is it wise to put a lump sum in one horse, or spread it around?
A: We always suggest diversification as a means of reducing risk. It is better to participate at a smaller level on three horses than to take a larger part of one.

Q: Do you sell packages or groups of horses?
A: No packages in North America, only with yearlings in South Africa. We have very high and demanding standards. We have difficulty finding horses to buy on a one-by-one basis, let alone in groups.

Q: What types of horses do you buy?
A: While Team Valor has realized Grade 1 success with various types of animals, it generally concentrates on three kinds of racehorses: a) young horses that have run a time or two, b) yearlings and c) thoroughly proven runners.

Q: Do you buy 2-year-olds at the in-training public auctions?
A: No. We stopped doing that in 2006 because think that the consignors compromise the horses, either physically or mentally. We would rather start a horse from scratch by buying a yearling or buying a horse that has shown it can stand training.

Q: Are you buying more yearlings nowadays?
A: Yes, we started buying more yearlings gradually so that now we are starting to rely on them more and more, as they provide the best value. We have enjoyed considerable success with our yearlings and are proud of our record.

Q: When you offer a horse for sale, what time constraints are involved?
A: Once a horse passes our "due diligence" of scrutiny and is bought, it generally sells very quickly. Potential partners are always advised to be prepared to commit soon after a review of our package, documentation and a video tape of the horse. Since Captain Bodgit was syndicated in 1997 in 24 hours, most of our popular young horses sell out in a day or 2. Newcomers have to be prepared to respond fast.

Q: How do potential investors find out if a horse is being offered?
A: Team Valor maintains a list of prospective partners, with notes on what type of racehorses they are interested in, such as fillies vs. colts, young horses vs. proven horses, grass horses vs. dirt horses, West Coast vs. East Coast, etc. Once a horse is bought, Team Valor releases details of the acquisition on its website in the Headline News section and prepares promotional materials, which it sends out to prospective partners.

Q: How many new investors generally participate in each LLC?
A: Usually there are only a couple, because our regular clients react quicker than the prospective clients, who as a rule are not in the habit of responding as quickly as is required.

Q: Is it safer to buy a filly vs. a colt?
A: The difference between buying a filly vs. a colt is one of risk vs. reward. Fillies are generally a safer investment because they can have residual value as a broodmare. But the upside of a filly is restricted. A colt is riskier because if it is unable to realize its potential on the track, it has much less value than a comparable filly. However, the potential reward in owning a colt that becomes successful is many times greater than that of a filly.

Q: What about tax reporting?
A: K-1 forms for reporting tax information are supplied prior to March 1 in each calendar year.

Q: Are the horses insured?
A: Team Valor routinely does not insure horses for mortality, with the exception of yearlings bought at public auction. Partners may obtain their own insurance. The Racing Manager maintains a liability policy in the amount of $3 million.

Q: Why the Limited Liability Company format instead of a General or Limited Partnership?
A: An LLC limits the liability of the members in case of a lawsuit solely to the assets of the partnership, so that its members are not personally liable or at risk.

Q: Where do your horses race?
A: Team Valor races horses mainly in North America. Every horse acquired by the stable is bought with the idea that it will eventually come to the United States. Currently, our major divisions of horses are on the Eastern Seaboard (New York and Florida circuit), the Midwest (Kentucky/New York/Florida) and California. Team Valor during the course of a typical year will race horses in the United States, Canada, Dubai, Hong Kong, South Africa, England, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy.

Q: Where do the majority of your partners reside?
A: While most partners live in Southern California or the New York/New Jersey area, we have partners who live in Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Missouri, Louisiana, Arkansas, Illinois, Hawaii, Arizona, Oregon, Washington. Connecticut, Kentucky, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Indiana, Tennessee, Delaware, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Kansas, Utah, Virginia, Minnesota, as well as Japan, Singapore and Canada.

Q: How are the partnerships concluded?
A: Fillies and mares are retired to a breeding farm, where they are bred and sold in November of the first year in which they get in foal at the Keeneland Breeding Stock sale in Lexington, Kentucky. Colts that are exceptional are sold or syndicated as stallion prospects. Males not good enough to go to stud generally are sold privately or placed in good homes, where they become riding or sport horses.

Q: Can an investor extricate himself/herself from a partnership before it is concluded?
A: Because Team Valor offers no secondary market, an LLC member interested in selling a partnership interest must find his or her own buyer. Prospective participants should be prepared to be involved for the life of the investment.

Q: Have any Team Valor investors ever gone on to have success with their own runners?
A: Yes, two of our former clients have gone on to Breeders' Cup victories. Former Mattel CEO John Amerman and his wife Jerry won the Breeders' Cup Distaff in 2003 with Adoration. Barry Fey won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint with Reraise.

Q: How much does it cost to train a horse with Team Valor?
A: When all is said and done, it costs about $50,000 annually to have a horse in training with our stable. All of the costs incurred by our horses are "passed through" directly to our owners--nothing extra is added on. The figure cited includes all training, normal veterinary work, blacksmith, vanning, accounting and tax prep. If a horse runs in stakes races, additional costs are incurred for nominations and entry fees.

Q: Do investors have any input as to the campaigning of a racehorse.
A: No. Those who participate in a racing venture do so because they are interested in benefiting from the expertise of Team Valor, not of the other members.

Q: Do partners have a say-so in determining anything?
A: Yes, partners vote on important issues regarding the expenditure of extraordinary sums of capital, as well as when a venture should be terminated.

Q: Has Team Valor raced in partnership with any prominent members of the Thoroughbred industry?
A: We have raced stakes winners with Robert Clay (Three Chimneys Farm), Bill Casner (WinStar Farm), Margaux Farm, Bill and Corrine Heiligbrodt, Denali Stud, Green Lantern Stable (Richard Masson), Gary Barber, NeverTell Farm, Carl Pascarella (Visa), Dr. Chuck Kidder, James L. Mamakos, John Henderson; stakes horses with Taylor Made Farm and Ian Balding (England); and raced other horses with Lane's End Farm, internationally with Larry Nestadt (South Africa), Anant and Vanshree Singh (South Africa), Scuderia Siba (Italy), Juan van Heerden (South Africa), Robert Bloomberg (South Africa), Greg Blank (South Africa), etc.

Q: Is it true that half the horses raced by the stable are stakes horses?
A: Yes. The percentage of stakes horses actually is more than 50 percent and has been for more than 20 years. Also 28 percent of all of the stable’s runners have won stakes races.

Q: How do you keep partners informed?
A: Former Daily Racing Form columnist Barry Irwin twice weekly writes the Insider's Bulletin, a private memorandum accessible only to Team Valor investors, who can access the report by using a pin system to enter a private sector at the company’s website. Letters to partners are sent when appropriate. Our ability to communicate with our partners is the envy of the industry.

Team Valor
Thoroughbred Square
209 N. Main Street, Suite H
Versailles, KY 40383
859-873-1003
888-434-2677
859-873-1004 fax