Irwin on Team Valor’s SA interests

USA-based Team Valor has had a close relationship with South African racing for many years now and recently bought four fillies who have run with much success in South Africa.

One of those is Frances Ethel who is second favourite for Saturday’s R6-million Betway Summer Cup at Turffontein. Barry Irwin, founder and CEO of Team Valor, kindly answered a few questions about his organisation and their plans for the four fillies, three of which are already in the USA.

1-Over the years Team Valor has purchased a number of South African-bred horses. How did this get started and what has brought you back to buying from this country for such a lengthy period?

Our first South African runner was the Summer Cup winner Delta Form, which we bought in partnership with South African-born Gary Barber. He won the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap for us. However, when we bought into Ipi Tombe in partnership with WinStar Farm and her existing partnership of fellows from Zimbabwe, that opened my eyes about how much international potential existed for horses bred and racing in Africa.

The year Ipi Tombe won the Duty Free in Dubai, I attended my first National Yearling Sale in South Africa and went for several years in a row. When the Markus Jooste incident tainted the South African racing industry, I took a hiatus.

But I missed racing in South Africa, so I am back again. It’s fun racing in South Africa and occasionally they produce horses good enough to cut it anywhere on the planet, so that intrigues me.

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2-What did you see in the breeding and performances of Frances Ethel that enticed you to purchase her?

It was Frances Ethel’s desire to win that caught my attention. She won race after race when seemingly she was beaten a furlong from the wire. She has a nice enough family and her sire, Rafeef, not only was a well-bred, top-class runner, he is getting the job done as a sire.

3-Is there a move afoot to race her overseas?

Yes, Frances Ethel will definitely be brought overseas. When the timing is deemed to be right, she will be flown to Europe, where she will train for a while until her partners decide whether to bring her to the US or to Australia, or perhaps the US as a prelude to going to Australia.

One of her owners is an Australian and he very much wants to see her race in his homeland. Right now, we have two races in mind for her—the Summer Cup and the Paddock Stakes. After that a decision will be made about the rest of the season or perhaps a trip to Europe.

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4-You currently have a few SA-bred horses with you in the USA, in particular Feather Boa, Bless My Stars, Egyptian Mau. When will they be seen in action and how do you rate their prospects?

Each one of these fine racing prospects suffered some sort of setback, but all three are set for promising campaigns in 2025.

Feather Boa arrived with bangs and cuts. She came around the fastest and closed well to place on debut recently in New York. She is set to return in a conditions race in three weeks at Gulfstream Park.

Bless My Stars had a setback that required a layup period, but she is back to her best now and will make her US debut going a mile in the Grade 3 Suwannee River Stakes on 21 December at Gulfstream Park. These two are both trained by Todd Pletcher.

Egyptian Mau suffered a lower limb insult and while being examined in New York quarantine she flipped over, compromising a large area of bone and skin on her left hind ankle. Rehab was slow and difficult, but she is finally doing fast work in Southern California for trainer Neil Drysdale and we think she can make the races in February at Santa Anita.

She will be geared to race 6 ½ furlongs (1300m) on the unique hillside infield turf course. I think all three of them can ring the bell in Graded stakes.

5-Does Team Valor have a relationship with Oisin Murphy that encouraged his decision to ride Frances Ethel in the Summer Cup?

Oisin has ridden quite a few races for our stable the last few years, mostly because we have horses in training with Andrew Balding, the Kingsclere trainer who has a deep relationship with the Champion jockey.

He has been my favourite rider for the last few years and he knows how I feel about him. He reminds me of the great Bill Shoemaker of California. His feel for what to do on a horse in both instinctive and brilliantly conceived. He gets the most out a horse without unduly beating them up. I love that about him.

The idea of bringing him to ride Frances Ethel was the brainchild of Ash Maharaj and he deserves full credit for his work in putting it all together.

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6-Team Valor has only recently been operating in Europe. How successful has that operation been, especially in light of the Covid pandemic?

Well, truth be told we have always had horses racing in Europe from the 1990s onward. But we decided to beef up our ranks a few years ago.

The main reason is that the culture of cheating by using performance enhancing drugs in America has led us to race more in Europe, where the sport is cleaner, more fun and more beautiful.

Europe now is our main source of horseflesh. Some will race and remain, while others will be exported to race and eventually be sold in the United States.