Everyone who enters Thoroughbred racing as an owner prays to have the opportunity to get that one 'Horse of a Lifetime,' and Barry Irwin has been lucky enough to have found several such horses during his decades at the helm of Team Valor International.
Despite visiting the winner's circle for some of the sport's most prestigious events all across the globe, with U. S. S. Valor, the grade 1-winning 2-year-old he has stabled with Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, Irwin is experiencing a new feeling.
"I have had many good horses. I have never had anything remotely close to this one," Irwin said on Episode 87 of the BloodHorse Monday podcast, released Oct. 5. "He is just a different sort, period. I don't think too many people have had a horse like this."
That horse, of course, is U. S. S. Valor, who after catching the public's attention with a scintillating 13 1/4-length maiden triumph Sept. 5 at Saratoga Race Course won the prestigious Champagne Stakes (G1) by a comfortable 6 1/2 lengths Oct. 3 at Belmont Park.
Those two victories could have made the first grade 1-winning son of 2019 Preakness Stakes (G1) winner War of Will the favorite Oct. 30 in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Keeneland. However, Irwin announced Oct. 4 that the colt would skip the Breeders' Cup.
"He's run three races, he's run fast every time," Irwin said. "He's had too many hard races, too many fast races. I don't have the heart to bring him over there one more time this year. I think he's done plenty."
Irwin's target is what everyone in America targets with a promising 2-year-old: next season's Kentucky Derby (G1). Irwin has tasted that glory before when Animal Kingdom earned the garland of roses after the 137th edition in 2011. Irwin is not one who tends to believe people when they say any form of 'I knew from the day he was born that he was going to be something special.' Yet, for this Team Valor homebred, that happens to be the case.
"He has virtually flawless conformation," Irwin said. "His physical stature is just remarkable. He's big; he's got the longest hip you can imagine. He's got the hip of a sprinter, he's got a powerful shoulder, he's got a tremendous girth. He's a big horse. You wouldn't expect him to be fast, but he is."
Those early expectations carried over to the early days of his training and even more so now that he has reached the track. Until Saturday, the pressure was on the horse to deliver.
"Everybody that's had their hands on this horse has said that he's different," Irwin said. "This horse has put me in a state of anxiety like I haven't felt in 30 or something years."
That anxiety eased when Irwin watched in awe as U. S. S. Valor streaked down the Belmont Park stretch to prove himself among the game's elite: a grade 1 winner. Though, it likely won't be long before daydreams of the Churchill Downs winner's circle on the First Saturday in May start arising, if they haven't already.
The decision to skip the Breeders' Cup has been greatly critiqued and debated in the 24 hours since it was officially announced, but Irwin said the race was never in the colt's plans. In fact, neither were the three races he's already run. Irwin explained on BloodHorse Monday that due to the horse's physique when he entered training in May, Irwin was under the impression that he would not debut until the fall.
"But once he started working, it became obvious he was a different sort of horse," Irwin said.
The natural progression of the colt's first two starts allowed the Champagne to come on the table, but Irwin has no desire to see any more action for the big colt this year.
While explaining the decision, he referred back to Seattle Slew and the job trainer Billy Turner did with him during his 2-year-old and 3-year-old campaigns in 1976-77. Although Irwin did not want to claim U. S. S. Valor is the second coming of the 1977 Triple Crown winner, the similarities in their campaigns are striking.
Seattle Slew debuted with a maiden victory at 6 furlongs before taking a 7-furlong allowance and winning the 1-mile Champagne in his third start. Then, Turner backed off and he would not race again until March of his 3-year-old season.
U. S. S. Valor debuted going 6 1/2 furlongs, finishing third with some trouble in his trip, then won going 7 furlongs before taking the Champagne.
"In those days, there was no Breeders' Cup to tempt him, but there were races like the Garden State Stakes and stuff like that he could've run in," Irwin said. "He, like my horse, was a very large animal.
"My horse has gotten enough out of his races, and he's got the body—I hope he doesn't grow a whole lot more—and next year we think we got a Kentucky Derby prospect. That's what we want. I'm not interested in hammering him to try and win some more money or whatever this year."
As far as how he gets to the Derby in the spring, Irwin will leave that up to his Hall of Fame trainer. Irwin said the colt will remain in light training and not be turned out as Animal Kingdom had been after his debut win, a needed decision that allowed Animal Kingdom to grow into himself and turn him into the champion he became.
"After one month in the paddock, he came out looking like the Incredible Hulk," Irwin said of Animal Kingdom. "This horse I've got right now, he already is the Incredible Hulk, so I don't have to go through that routine."
Irwin said U. S. S. Valor will join McGaughey at Payson Park for the winter and will likely look for a race to target around March.
During the full 22-minute interview on BloodHorse Monday, Irwin discussed more of the differences between U. S. S. Valor and Animal Kingdom, what it meant to provide War of Will—who raced for his good friend Gary Barber—with his first grade 1 win, what skipping the Breeders' Cup does to his Eclipse Award chances, his new book 'A Knight Errant,' and more.
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