Team Valor International

Team Valor International reached the pinnacle of racing in 2011 when Animal Kingdom won the Kentucky Derby.

Team Valor, which is run by chief executive officer Barry Irwin, forms partnerships with racing enthusiasts and members of the industry to compete at the major racing venues of the United States and abroad. The racing operation is one of the most accomplished stables among all types of owners.

A lifelong racing fan who worked as a Turf writer for Daily Racing Form and the Blood-Horse, Irwin founded Clover Racing Stables in 1987 with his close friend Jeff Siegel and began syndicating racehorses.

The first horse raced by an Irwin-formed partnership was Political Ambition, who won the Hollywood Derby in 1987 for Clover Racing.

In 1992, Irwin and Siegel formed Team Valor when other Clover Racing investors were not willing to dedicate the resources to the venture to compete at the elite level. The first horse purchased by the new Team Valor was a little-known English turf runner named My Memoirs (GB), who debuted in the red and green silks when second in the 1992 Belmont Stakes behind A.P. Indy.

Irwin bought out Siegel in 2007 and renamed the operation Team Valor International. In 2010, Irwin transferred all of his U.S. horses to trainer Graham Motion at Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md. In 2013 the syndicate moved their stable to a private trainer, Rick Mettee, but after finding limited success there the horses have since migrated back to other trainers including Motion and Mark Casse.

Top runners in Irwin’s syndicates include champions Irridescence (SAf), Ipi Tombe (Zim), and Torgau (Ire), 1989 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Prized, and Grade 1 winners Captain Bodgit, The Deputy (Ire), Golden Ballet, Unbridled Belle, Visionaire, Star of Cozzene, Political Ambition, Cashier’s Dream, and Summer Soiree.