Team Valor Ready for Racing to Resume in Europe

When he announced earlier this year that his Team Valor International partnership would be shifting its future holdings strictly to the "international" part of its name, TVI founder and CEO Barry Irwin was also eagerly awaiting a year of European racing that had the potential to be simply sensational.

These days, that rosy outlook has been tempered.

"Unfortunately we picked the wrong year to have our best stable over there," Irwin said.

Like the United States, Europe has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but racing across the Atlantic is beginning to spring back to life. Racing in Germany may resume May 7 and France's racing season is set to launch May 11. In England and Ireland, the sport remains shuttered.

Yet the major difference overseas is that the premier spring races in Europe are still several weeks away and, unlike the American Triple Crown for 3-year-olds, they have not been completely disrupted.

"We are in less good shape here in America than in Europe," Irwin said. "They are generally a month behind schedule and will miss only one series of prep races for their classics so it's not a huge problem. Here we rely so heavily on the Triple Crown and we're missing a lot of it."

Of the 50 Team Valor horses in training, about 25 are stabled outside of North America and Irwin believes he has three classic 3-year-old fillies in Emoji, American Apples, and Silence Please. All are stabled in Europe.

Emoji, a 14-length maiden winner in Germany, and American Apples are both candidates for the July 5 Prix de Diane Longines (G1)—known as the French Oaks—for 3-year-old fillies.

A daughter of Soldier Hollow trained by Francis Graffard, Emoji is a possibility for the May 11 Prix de la Grotte (G3) at ParisLongchamp. The May 14 Prix Vanteaux (G3), also at ParisLongchamp, is a backup.

In her last start back in March, Emoji captured a one-mile trial at Saint-Cloud. 

American Apples, an American Post filly, is being pointed toward the May 14 listed Prix de la Seine at Longchamp.

Plans for Silence Please, a daughter of Gleneagles, are on hold since she is in Ireland and cannot be shipped to France due to travel restrictions.

"We know what we're going to do in France, but we don't know what they are going to do in England and Ireland, so we have to play it by ear," Irwin said.

Team Valor also has two top-level 4-year-old males in Spanish Mission, winner of the $1 million Jockey Club Derby Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park at 3, and Technician, but is uncertain of when and where they can race. 

Spanish Mission started 2020 with a sixth in the Feb. 27 Nad Al Sheba Trophy Sponsored By Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City District One (G3) at Meydan, but then missed out on a chance to run in the Dubai Turf (G1) when the Dubai World Cup was canceled.

"They both want to run anywhere from 1 3/8 miles to 2 1/2 miles and they both may be Ascot Gold Cup (G1) horses but we don't know what will happen with that race," Irwin said.

Team Valor also campaigns the 4-year-old Soldier Hollow filly Axana, who won a group 3 in Germany in April 2019 and then placed second in the WEMPE German One Thousand Guineas (G2). In July she added a victory in the Hamburger Stutenmeile (G3). She is scheduled to race May 7 in the listed GP Von Rossmann Stakes at Hannover in Germany.