Gitano Hernando, who was favored last March for the $10-million World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, has arrived in Dubai from England to be prepared for the 2011 renewal of the 10-furlong fixture, which will be raced for a second time at Meydan race course in Dubai. In related news, Hong Kong-based jockey Weichong Marwing has been signed to pilot the Team Valor International and Gary Barber-owned chestnut in the three races scheduled for Gitano Hernando in Dubai. More

Team Valor International today is offering interests in the rising 2-year-old home-bred War Chant colt Terwilliger, who is training forwardly for Todd Quast at Gold Mark Farm’s training center near Ocala, Florida. Terwilliger will be the first Team Valor youngster to be presented simultaneously to both the stable’s regular clients and newcomers. More

Unbeaten three-year-old filly sensation Ebony Flyer, who made last Saturday’s Grade 1 Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas at Kenilworth her fourth victory in as many starts for trainer Justin Snaith, will take on older horses, including Horse of the Year Pocket Power, next time out in the Grade 1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate. More

Trainer Justin Snaith is maintaining his goal of keeping 3-year-old filly Ebony Flyer unbeaten, as he sent out the massive 17-hand 1-inch filly to score a clear victory this afternoon at Kenilworth race course in the Avontuur Estate Grade 1 Cape Fillies Guineas. Winning owners Team Valor International, Mrs. Gaynor Rupert of Drakenstein Stud, and Anant and wife Vanashree Singh congratulated Snaith for the Classic victory and birthday number 36, which came yesterday. More

Team Valor International, with important international victories on 3 of the last 4 weekends, leads of North American partnership stables in all major categories involving number of stakes winners. The Kentucky-based stable leads its competitors in number of stakes victories, number of stakes winners, number of Graded stakes winners and number of Graded stakes scores. More

For Team Valor International and Green Lantern Stable, the second time proved a charm with its Maryland invader Gypsy’s Warning, as she roared home from 5 lengths off the lead at the top of the lane to mow down her field and score a clear-cut, daylight victory in the $250,000 Matriarch Stakes, a Grade 1 fixture run under weight-for-age conditions over a mile at Hollywood Park this afternoon. More

From The Rancho Santa Fe Review: Aron Wellman has gone from mucking stalls at the Del Mar Racetrack to having a horse win a Breeders’ Cup race. The Rancho Santa Fe resident, vice president of Team Valor International, watched on Nov. 6 as the racing stable’s 2-year-old horse Pluck won the $1 million Juvenile Turf Race. Pluck’s win at Churchill Downs was "mindblowing” and, well, showed a lot of pluck. More

From The Paulick Report: Irwin, a one-time journalist and long-time racing partnership impresario,  did a little brainstorming a couple of years ago and came up with something he called a “newcomers program” that offered shares in horses to first-time buyers only. More

Graham Motion, effective immediately, will train all of Team Valor International's horses based in North America. Barry Irwin's far-flung stable will be housed under one roof in a 40-stall barn that Team Valor is buying at Fair Hill Training Center near Elkton, Maryland. Team Valor and Motion came to a mutual agreement last week prior to the Breeders' Cup, in which Motion saddled the winner of the Filly & Mare Turf in Shared Account and Team Valor owned the winner of the Juvenile Turf in Pluck. More

Pluck raised the hairs on the necks of men and gave women goose bumps on their limbs with one of the most remarkable displays of athleticism, courage, determination, grit and talent in the long, storied history of the Breeders' Cup. First of all, he had the worst possible outside post position of all of the BC races, because no horse racing over the distance of a mile on grass had been able to win in the last 5 years. To make matters worse, when the gates sprung open, Pluck stumbled, almost touching his nose on the sod. Rounding the first turn, Garrett Gomez had to swerve his mount around the fallen rider of a horse that had slipped on the soft turf. More

Thanks to 3 Graded stakes victories last Saturday, including a win in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf with Pluck, partnerships formed by Team Valor International have won 15 black-type events in 2010, stealing a lead of 9 wins over its two nearest rivals among racing stables that operate public partnerships. Barry Irwin thinks it is entirely possible for the stable to add at least 2 more stakes wins before the end of 2010. More

Ebony Flyer, who was making only the third start of her career, won the Grade 2 Odessa Stud Fillies Championship in such devastating fashion that the handicapper for The Jockey Club in South Africa increased her Merit Rating from 85 to 106, putting her 5 pounds clear of the next best 3-year-old filly on the continent. “We consider her to be the best we’ve seen from this current crop of 3-year-old fillies,” the head handicapper told Barry Irwin. The 106 puts her behind only 5 colts from her generation and within 3 pounds of the top-rated 3-year-old colt in the land.” More

Success Counts was sent postward a decided longshot, a situation that was not helped by the fact that on the eve of the contest, veteran international rider Antony Delpech “spun” Ormond Ferraris and defected to a filly trained by Mike de Kock. Apprentice jockey Noreesh Juglall, age 18, was the lad chosen to replace Delpech in riding the 3yo filly Success Counts in the Starling Stakes, a Grade 3 prep for the Classic Gauteng Fillies Guineas. More

Last year, Dr. Chris Ruhnke had the chance to buy a small share in a Team Valor homebred that was being offered to newcomers to the business. A fan of the sport since high school, Ruhnke decided to take the plunge on then-yearling Pluck (More Than Ready). You can call it Beginner’s Luck if you like, but Pluck will be taking the first-time owner to the Breeders’ Cup, competing in the GII BC Juvenile Turf. Better still, the good doctor believes he could find himself in the winner’s circle Saturday. More

Team Valor International’s home-bred 2-year-old Animal Kingdom, making the second career start, broke his maiden in impressive fashion today racing 1 1/8 miles at Keeneland on Polytrack. The tall chestnut colt scored handsomely by 3 ¼ lengths, showed a lot of gameness and earned a big 84 Beyer number, which is quite a speed figure for a juvenile running over that testing distance. More

Team Valor International’s Daveron blasted to a 3-length victory today at Belmont Park in 1 ¼-mile Scoot Stakes. The 5-year-old German import was reunited today with Eddie Castro, who had guided her to a debut win over the Belmont course earlier in the spring in her only prior score in the United States. More

Failed Dubai World Cup favorite Gitano Hernando asserted himself late as the odds-on choice to cop the Group 3 Diamond Stakes at Dundalk by a neck under a brilliant ride by Kieren Fallon for trainer Marco Botti. In the paddock before the race, Fallon told Botti and Team Valor International CEO Barry Irwin that he expected Gitano Hernando to be “ridden” by every one of the other 6 jockeys in the race, as there was no discernable pacesetter, the favorite was set to break on the fence and the only chance the opposition had was to box in the 4-year-old chestnut. More

In a scheme that has proved to be beneficial to both the stable and 17 brand new owners to the sport of Thoroughbred racing in the last two years, Team Valor International has decided to make an annual promotion of offering newcomers to the stable a chance to buy into a selected home-bred racing prospect under attractive terms and conditions. More

Team Valor International’s Pluck, sent postward as the 5 to 2 favorite, relished the cut in the ground today on a somewhat softened turf course at Woodbine and drew away smartly from half a dozen other 2-year-old to win the $243,176 Summer Stakes. Victory in the Grade 3 fixture, a “Win and You’re In” Breeders’ Cup qualifying event, earned the black-bodied colt an automatic starting berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. More

When home-bred 2-year-old Pluck won the Grade 3 Summer Stakes at Woodbine and nailed down a stall in the starting gate for the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Churchill Downs, he was winning stakes number 10 this season for a Team Valor International partnership. Team Valor once again has won twice as many stakes races as its near rival among public syndicate groups. More

Barry Irwin’s Team Valor International and Dave Munro’s Highfield Stock Farm have decided to offer 50 percent of its yearling half-sister to Miss Singhsix for syndication. “As we’ve told our partners since summertime,” noted Irwin, “we didn’t plan to make any major buys at the yearling sales in 2010. We’ve been blessed with some terrific home-breds we want to introduce into the stable. Because 3 of our 4 best juveniles this season are home-breds, we now have enough credibility with our clientele to pull this off. In Pluck, Animal Kingdom and Badleroibrown, we have 3 stakes quality 2-year-olds that were bred either by Team Valor or a Team Valor partnership. More

Team Valor is launching International Turf Tours, the brainchild of Megan Jones, who will co-host 3 trips abroad annually beginning in January. Each year, Team Valor will travel to South Africa and twice to the United Kingdom or Europe. First of the three 2011 trips, specifically targeting Cape Town, racing, a safari and a winery tour, will begin January 15 and conclude on January 31. Barry Irwin will join Miss Jones as co-host for this trip. More

Brigantin stamped himself as a stayer with a future today when coming from last to first to defeat favored Shamanova for the Group 3 Prix Lutece over the grueling distance of 15 furlongs (1 7/8 miles) at Longchamp, scoring by three-quarters of a length and starting as a longshot, even though in his previous 8 outings he had been worse than second only once, when he threw out a hip on heavy going early in the spring of 2010. More

Valiant Passion was fully syndicated by Team Valor International this week. The response from participants was strong and rapid. The diverse group includes those with their own racing operations, a major Kentucky farm owner and many of the stable’s stalwarts. More

Causeway’s Kin looped his field on the far turn on a wet Calder race course main track today to seal victory in the Band is Passing Stakes in Miami, Florida and become a stakes winner for the first time. The son of Giant’s Causeway scored by a length in the two-turn mile race that originally had been scheduled for the grass at a distance half a furlong shorter. More

Team Valor International and Mrs. Elisabeth A. Fabre’s Kentucky-bred homebred Cozzene 3-year-old colt Brigantin became a black-type winner for the first time today when scoring a convincing victory in the Prix Frederic de Lagrange at Vichy in the French Provinces. Brigantin became the seventh stakes winner for Team Valor this season and his victory at Vichy was stakes win number 8 for the stable in 2010. More

Becrux has been retired from racing. Barry Irwin said “Becrux experienced a full career, he reached the heights of the sport and he retires sound. Gary Barber and Team Valor International are very proud of what he accomplished. Becrux made 44 starts for a record of 10 wins, 4 seconds and 9 thirds. On turf, he made 36 starts, winning 8 and placing first-second-third in more than half of them. He was a winner in Italy, Dubai, the United States and Canada. He also raced in Japan. His career earnings amounted to $1,170,651. More

Fantastico Roberto became a black-type winner of the Choice Stakes at Monmouth Park, giving Team Valor International its seventh stakes win of 2010 and more than doubling up on the nearest competitors in West Point and Starlight Stable. Team Valor lost another stakes Friday night when Minute Limit failed by a nose of taking a fixture in California. More

Fantastico Roberto justified 2 to 1 favoritism this afternoon when led every step of the way to win the $100,000 Choice Stakes under a heady ride by jockey Johnny Velazquez for trainer Todd Pletcher. More

Ebony Flyer remained unbeaten in 2 starts yesterday when she became a black-type winner of the Lady’s Slipper Stakes at Arlington Park in South Africa, giving Team Valor International its sixth stakes win of the season and doubling up on the nearest competitors in West Point and Starlight Stable. More

Ebony Flyer confirmed the high opinion of her connections to take today’s Lady’s Slipper Stakes. Bookmakers made her the 17 to 10 choice over the morning-line favorite Ce Loire. The story of the race is simply told: Ebony Flyer broke running, raced in second outside of Ce Loire to the midpoint of the stretch, responded when asked by her rider and drew off to score by 2 ¼ lengths to remain undefeated. More

Brigantin blasted clear by some 5 lengths in mid-stretch of the Swiss Derby on Sunday at the Frauenfeld race course in Bern, Switzerland and then was geared down in the final sixteenth of a mile to win the $90,000 event by a long-looking 3 lengths. More

Miss Singhsix became a Graded stakes winner for the first time when she was able to overcome a stumble at the break and justify favoritism by scoring a hard-fought neck victory in the $150,000 Obeah Stakes at Delaware Park. This marks the third year in a row that the Obeah Stakes was won by a Team Valor mare. More

When Miss Singhsix won the Grade 3 Obeah on Saturday at Delaware, it kept Team Valor International atop North America’s public partnerships in number of stakes victories with 5 stakes wins. The stable has run second 7 times and third in 2 stakes in 2010. More

Team Valor International and Green Lantern Stable’s Gypsy’s Warning, making her United States debut, overcame a wide trip throughout to get up in the final stride for a nose victory in the Grade 3 Eatontown Handicap at Monmouth Park today going 1 1/16 miles on turf. More

When South African import Gypsy’s Warning got up on the line to nail down the Grade 3 Eatontown Handicap on the last day of May to close out the initial 5 months of racing in North America for the current season, Team Valor was right where it ended the 2009 season—atop North America’s public partnerships in terms of number of stakes victories. More

Team Valor International’s Daveron made quite a big impression in her debut in the United States today by pouring it on late to drive to a 4-length victory going a mile and a sixteen on the grass at Belmont Park in an allowance race. “I knew she had ability,” said Christophe Clement, “but I didn’t realize she was ready to run a race like that. More

Team Valor International—a runaway leader in 2009 in terms of stakes and Graded wins—is back atop the list one month into the second quarter of the current racing season. Team Valor has sent out 3 stakes winners in Gitano Hernando (Winter Derby Trial Stakes in England), Motovato (Sumter Stakes at Calder race course) and Miss Singhsix (Maryland Racing Media Stakes at Laurel). More

Team Valor knew going into Saturday’s Sumter at Calder that the main threat to Motovato’s defense of his crown for the $55,000 stakes in the would be none other than Causeway’s Kin, an improving, purple-blooded, 4-year-old colt owned by the Estate of Edmund Gann and trained by Marty Wolfson. Ironically, it was You And I Forever, a 5-year-old half-brother to Causeway's Kin, also owned by the Estate of Ed Gann, who swooped past Motovato en route to victory in the Grade 2, $300,000 Gulfstream Park Handicap in March. More

Continuing to mine a strategy that first put him on the map more than 30 years ago, Barry Irwin followed up his recent purchase of the thoroughly proven Graded stakes winner Motovato with the acquisition over the weekend of the thoroughly proven 3-year-old filly Chantilly Nayla. More

Tomorrow 15 Team Valor partners will depart from Atlanta with Barry and Kathleen Irwin and Megan Jones for a 2-week jaunt in South Africa, culminating in the National Yearling Sale, where Team Valor will acquire the sixth group of yearlings purchased in the country since Irwin began making the annual trip. More

My Nan Nell, who was bought late last week in England by Team Valor, has been fully subscribed. Barry Irwin and Aron Wellman consider this diamond in the rough to have unlimited potential. More

Team Valor International owner and Chief Executive Officer Barry Irwin has been forming partnerships to race Thoroughbreds all over the world since 1987 and he achieved a milestone on Saturday March 27 when the stable’s 3-year-old colt Forward Harch won a Gulfstream Park maiden race on grass to record victory number 750 for a horse representing a partnership put together by the Kentucky resident. More

Gitano Hernando breezed 7½ furlongs on Saturday morning. The move went exactly as planned, reports trainer Marco Botti, who said “He traveled hard on the bridle behind Mesa Marauder for the first 4 ½ and then picked up strongly the final 3 furlongs. There’s no doubt he’s come forward since the Winter Derby Trial. He is right where I want him to be. More

Last Saturday Gitano Hernando could be seen warming up for the $10-million Dubai World Cup with a 4 ½-length triumph in the Winter Derby Trial Stakes at Lingfield in England. This week, horse racing fans can find him on the social networking site Facebook, where the Gitano Hernando page is host to video and photos from the colt’s 3-year-old campaign last season when he became a Grade 1 winner in Southern California. The page also features up-to-the-minute press notices, news on the colt as he prepares for his trip to Dubai. More

Team Valor International and Gary Barber have purchased Graded stakes winner Motovato from the Estate of Edmund Gann. The 5-year-old son of Proud Citizen will remain in the care of trainer Marty Wolfson, who will point the accomplished Kentucky-bred for the March 13 Gulfstream Park Handicap. More

Gitano Hernando exploded with a furlong remaining and drew off to a 4 ½-length triumph when he missed the Lingfield track record for a mile and a quarter in taking the Listed Winter Derby Trial Stakes today outside of London, England. The victory was exactly what Newmarket-based trainer Marco Botti was looking for in the colt’s debut at 4. “I had him about 80 percent ready,” said the Italian-born horseman. More

Miss Singhsix, benefitting from a rehabilitation job full of merit by Marty Wolfson, became a stakes winner Saturday when she easily won the Maryland Racing Media Stakes at Laurel Park in Maryland. More

The countdown continues. Gitano Hernando is well into the thick of his preparation for a tilt at the richest horse race the world has ever known. While the $10 million Dubai World Cup is 43 days away, Gitano is just 16 days away from his initial step on the road towards Meydan Racecourse. First stop: Lingfield Racecourse, the Winter Derby Trial, February 27,10 furlongs Polytrack, which will serve as Gitano’s launching pad en route to landing in a starting stall for the World Cup on March 27. More

Following a series of Team Valor ads pointing out the stable's runaway leading position among stakes winning syndicates, West Point Stable this week announced to one and all that they, in fact, have reached the “pinnacle” as the top stable in the land that forms partnerships. To strengthen their case, they used an average over the last 3 racing seasons. Team Valor sets the record straight. More

Team Valor International’s King of the Roxy, who is a double Grade 2 winner of the Belmont Futurity and the Hutcheson Stakes, will enter stud this season in New Mexico at McCallum View Farm. More

Kieren Fallon, who is currently plying his trade in the United Arab Emirates, will return to England to ride Gitano Hernando on February 27 in the Winter Derby Trial. The last time Fallon was aboard the colt he rode him to an upset victory in the Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita’s Oak Tree meeting. More

Tom Furey, a resident of Connecticut who winters on Marco Island in Florida, is the winner of the first “Follow the Valor” contest, patterned on an old promotional event pioneered by Barry Irwin more than 20 years ago when he campaigned partnership-owned horses as Clover Racing Stables. The retired IBM software whiz correctly tabbed the number of winning races taken by the stable in 2009 at 57. More

Team Valor International lead all other public partnerships in 2009 in the categories of stakes wins, stakes winners, Graded wins and Graded winners. So dominant was the Kentucky-based stable owned by Barry Irwin that its 19 wins in stakes races was nearly twice the 10 wins accomplished by West Point and IEAH, which tied for second place. More