Barry Irwin

Barry Howard Irwin (born April 21, 1943, in Long Beach, California) is the owner of the Thoroughbred horse racing stable of Team Valor International in Lake Worth, Florida.

In 1969, Irwin became a staff writer for The Blood-Horse magazine in Kentucky.

From 1970 through 1974 Irwin served as editor, staff writer and advertising manager for The Thoroughbred of California.

From 1975 through 1978 Irwin was a syndicated columnist for southern California in Daily Racing Form.

From 1976 through 1978, Irwin hosted a twice-weekly, two-hour radio program, as well as a weekly, one-hour television program.

Irwin left DRF at the end of the 1978 Del Mar meet to establish the bloodstock agency Pacifica Thoroughbreds.

For the next decade, Irwin bred, raced, syndicated, bought, and sold several hundred horses, including It's the One, African Sky, Moscow Ballet and Torsion.

In 1987 Irwin founded Clover Racing Stable, which became Team Valor in 1992 when a partner in Clover Racing opted out.

In 1987 the first horse Irwin syndicated, named Political Ambition, won the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby and at year's end was the top-weighted 3-year-old on grass on The Blood-Horse year-end handicap.

Since 1987, one in every 4 horses raced by the stable has won a stakes race.

A total of 163 stakes winners have been campaigned by Irwin's stable, of which 100 have won Graded races.

Irwin has developed 77 horses to have won or placed in a Grade 1 race, 30 of which have won a total of 40 Grade 1 races.

A total of 16 individual horses have won a combined total of 21 Championships throughout the world, including in the United States, England, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil and South Africa.

Irwin's stable has campaigned winners in the following locales: United States, Canada, England, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Hong Kong, Japan, Brazil, Uruguay, and South Korea.

In 1989, Irwin's colt Prized won the Grade 1, $2-million Breeders' Cup Turf in his first race on grass, and at year's end was the top-weighted 3-year-old on grass on The Blood-Horse year-end handicap.

In 1989, Irwin's Martial Law scored a 50-to-1 upset victory in the historic Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap.

In 1993, Irwin's Star of Cozzene won the Grade 1 Arlington Million the year Team Valor won 21 individual stakes.

In the year 2000, Eclipse Press, the publishing arm of the industry magazine The Blood-Horse began a series of books about the greatest horses in the history of American racing.

This was called the Thoroughbred Legends Series.

In 2002, Barry Irwin was invited to write the Legends Series book "Swaps; the California Comet" which told the story of the 1955 Kentucky Derby winner.

Irwin eagerly accepted the task since Swaps was his favorite racehorse of all time.

In 2003, Irwin's mare Ipi Tombe was named Horse of the Year in the United Arab Emirates after winner the Grade 1 $2-million Dubai Duty Free.

In 2004, 2005 and 2006, Irwin purchased yearling horses at public auction which later went on to win Grade 1 races.

In 2005, Irwin's mare Sweet Stream won the Group 1 Prix Vermeille in France and was accorded honors as the Champion Older Mare in England after winner the Group 2 Park Hill Stakes.

In 2006, Irwin's Irridescence, which had been named Champion Filly at 3 in South Africa the year before when she was a double Grade 1 winner, upset two-time Breeders' Cup heroine Ouija Board (horse) in the Grade 1 $1.8-million Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup in Hong Kong.

In 2007 Barry Irwin bought out long-time partner and friend Jeff Siegel and became the sole proprietor of the stable.

At that time, because of the changing focus toward foreign racing and foreign thoroughbred acquisitions, Irwin changed the name of the stable to Team Valor International.

The nickname given him by some friends has stuck and Barry Irwin is known among his clients as "B Eye," using his initials to refer to his uncanny ability that has gained him "legendary" status in ferreting out talent from some of the most unlikely venues the world has to offer.

In 2007, Irwin's $25,000 South African yearling buy Captain's Lover won the Classic, Grade 1 Cape Fillies Guineas and was voted Champion Filly at 3 in The Republic.

In 2010, Irwin's Ebony Flyer joined her half-sister Captain's Lover as a winner of the Classic, Grade 1 Cape Fillies Guineas.

In 2010, Irwin's horse Pluck, which he bred from a South African mare he had earlier imported, won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

He is the owner and breeder of the 2011 Kentucky Derby and 2013 Dubai World Cup winner, Animal Kingdom.

Barry Irwin has been interested in horse racing from a very early age, since an aunt and uncle introduced him to the sport.

In 2011, Irwin's horse, Animal Kingdom, which he bred from a German mare he had earlier imported, won the 137th Kentucky Derby.

The Derby winner's sire, the Brazilian-bred horse Leroidesanimaux, had earlier been purchased for stud duty by Barry Irwin on behalf of a Kentucky breeding farm.

Animal Kingdom was voted an Eclipse Award, emblematic of being the Champion Colt at 3 in North America.

In 2013, Animal Kingdom won the world's richest horserace - the $10-million Dubai World Cup, which is held annually in late March in the United Arab Emirates.

In 2019 Irwin's filly Axana earned honors as the Champion 3-year-old (regardless of sex) in Germany.

In 2019 Irwin's colt Technician was honored in France as the Champion Stayer at 3, and also Champion Stayer regardless of age in the same season.

Barry Irwin's stable, Team Valor International, is a global venture.