Barry Irwin’s Team Valor and Craig and Holly Bandoroff’s Denali Stud have formed a strategic alliance that, among other things, will allow the international racing stable to use the Kentucky breeding farm and consignor as its exclusive boarding and sales agent.
Team Valor, which made the announcement Feb. 10, will board all of its domestic broodmares at Denali Stud near Paris, Ky., and consign all of its horses offered at public auction with Denali, which has and will continue to invest in and involve some of its clients in Team Valor’s racing and breeding partnerships.
“Team Valor is trying to consolidate its business and deal with those horsemen with whom we have enjoyed the most success,” Team Valor president Barry Irwin said in a statement. “Last year, on the racing scene, we decided to put all of our horses in training with Graham Motion at Fair Hill Training Center (in Maryland). Now this year we have decided to place all of our breeding stock and young horses to Denali.
“When we formed a small partnership last year to buy our barn at Fair Hill, Craig (Bandoroff) became one of our investors in that limited liability company.”
Said Craig Bandoroff: “We have a high opinion of what Barry has been able to accomplish with his racing partnerships because we not only have seen it first-hand, we also have participated. Every year he comes up with the kind of horses that we want to be able to sell at public auction and be able to retain a few to breed on our farm.
Among the mares boarded at Denali are Secret Heart, whose first foal, Pluck, won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (gr. IIT) last season, and Captain's Lover, a group I-winning South African champion filly at 3 with major stakes wins in France in the United States. Team Valor owns 14 domestic broodmares.
Among the mares sold at public auction for Team Valor by Denali is Team Valor-campaigned Ipi Tombe, who topped the 2004 Tattersalls December sale when sold in foal to Sadler’s Wells. Pluck was bred, foaled, and raised at Denali, and the Bandoroffs were members of the partnership that bred the colt.
