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.

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.

[1] 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 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.

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.

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.

In 2016, Barry Irwin published his memoirs titled "Derby Innovator; the Making of Animal Kingdom", in which he reviews the moments in his life which helped to form his unique perspective on horse racing, including management and breeding.

He also shares some excellent insight and background on many of the famous racehorses who carried his colors to the winners' circle - from his first stakes win in the 1970s in California, all the way to the 2011 Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom.

Irwin was a founding director with the equine-related charity "Race for Education," [2] which raises money to provide college scholarships to the offspring of backstretch and farm workers.

One percent of the purse money earned by Team Valor horses (with a matching amount from Irwin) went to the Race for Education to provide these much-needed scholarships.

Irwin devoted the last chapter of his memoir Derby Innovator to summarizing current issues regarding the overuse of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) and ended with an optimistic look at the future of racing once federal legislation had been adopted.

Irwin worked with Senator Udall in an effort to develop and enact Federal legislation to reign in the rampant misuse in American Racing of drugs, both legal and illegal.