Barry Irwin | Horse Racing Free Tips

The Deputy Rescued from TX Kill Pen

The Deputy (Ire) (Petardia {GB}), winner of the 2000 GI Santa Anita Derby and second choice in that year's GI Kentucky Derby, was rescued from a kill pen in Texas earlier this month by his old connections, Barry Irwin's Team Valor, Gary Barber and trainer Jenine Sahadi. The 24-year-old, who had stood stud in several states, was reportedly bought cheaply in Iowa and sent to a feedlot north of Dallas, at which point word quickly spread on the internet and made its way to The Deputy's past connections. By utilizing the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance network, Irwin, Barber and Sahadi enlisted Donna Keen to pick up and transfer The Deputy to her TAA-approved Remember Me Rescue in Burleson, TX, where he will live out his days.

“We decided to have Donna quarantine The Deputy for a while, do some diagnostic work including bloods and a fecal and not reveal anything about the rescue until we were certain that he was healthy, as Donna warned us that horses from feedlots can contract diseases quite readily,” Irwin said. “When the tests all came back negative [Wednesday] and the vet-check proved unremarkable, we decided it was time to tell the story, not to portray ourselves as heroes, but to put an end to the salacious, untrue and unfounded tales that had been circulating online. We want to thank those horse lovers who helped us in our endeavors.”

“We are thrilled to have been able to help the original connections and to be able to take care of the horse and share him with visitors to our rescue,” Keen said, “He is, as could be expected, a bit underweight at this time, but when he fills back up and once again looks the part we look forward to showing him off here in Texas. We are very honored and proud to have been selected as his forever home.”

Barber said, “I have always had a soft spot in my heart for The Deputy. He was my first Grade I winner.”

Sahadi added, “He was the easiest horse to be around. All class. He meant a lot to me and my barn.”

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Maiden Winner With ‘Un’-Tapped Potential

The GI Kentucky Derby-bound Helium (Ironicus) wasn't the only 3-year-old colt to impress on the GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby card Mar. 6.

Untreated (Nyquist) put on a show earlier that day as well, graduating by a pole for Todd Pletcher at second asking with a flashy, come-from-behind maiden tally in his two-turn debut (video). He earned a very solid 86 Beyer Speed Figure.

A well-beaten sixth as the 4-5 favorite behind next out GIII Sam F. Davis S. winner Candy Man Rocket (Candy Ride {Arg}) going six furlongs in his unveiling for the late Paul Pompa, Jr. and trainer Chad Brown at Gulfstream Jan. 9, Untreated brought $300,000 from bloodstock agent Steve Young on behalf of Team Valor just five days later at the Keeneland January Sale. He was previously a $550,000 Keeneland September Yearling purchase, the most expensive of 44 yearlings from the first crop of promising young sire Nyquist to switch hands.

“The bottom line is, we got lucky,” Team Valor head Barry Irwin said. “Everybody knew about the horse before he ran. I was prepared to go to what he cost as a yearling, $550,000, and we got him for $300,000. Steve Young, who I've known pretty well for years, is the one who pushed me to buy the horse.”

That must have been one heck of a push considering Irwin's recent words regarding the current state of affairs for racing in this country and his plans for his longtime partnership to compete predominantly abroad going forward.

“I do not like racing in America anymore at this time,” Irwin said. “I am sick of it. The only horse I bought the previous year to stay here was [GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity and GI Arkansas Derby second and 'TDN Rising Star'] Gouverneur Morris [by Constitution]. I can't stand this crap that's going on. But this horse was very intriguing.”

Untreated came out firing once joining Pletcher's Palm Beach Downs string, highlighted by a trio of bullet workouts. He did, however, have a gap between his Jan. 30 and Feb. 20 breezes.

“His first work was a bullet work, but the guy had to tap him on the shoulder to get him to gallop out,” Irwin said. “The next work, another bullet work, but he can't even gallop out a furlong this time. He gets back [to the barn] and he's got an entrapped epiglottis. Now, I would be willing to bet, based on my experience with that, that this horse was already starting to do this when Chad him, but didn't show enough evidence of it yet. So, we got lucky. We had Dr. Yarborough do the procedure in his stall.”

Irwin continued, “It worked and his next two works were just unbelievable. Especially the last one. We knew we had something.”

Drawn wide in post eight in his first try for Team Valor and Pletcher, Untreated was about three deep while rounding the clubhouse turn and raced near the rear heading into the backstretch. The bay traveled nicely from there and launched an eye-catching, four-wide move leaving the four-furlong marker into third. He took over with ease approaching the top of the stretch and increased his margin to the wire, scoring by 8 3/4 lengths. The final time of 1:39.17 was just a few ticks off the Tampa track record of 1:38 3/5 for a mile and 40 yards.

“We were thrilled to see how he did it,” Irwin said.

Untreated is out of the graded-stakes placed Unbridled's Song mare Fully Living and is from the same family of champion Halfbridled (Unbridled). He was co-bred in Kentucky by Ashview Farm and Old Oak Farm.

Untreated is scheduled to return to the worktab Saturday, per Irwin.

Will we see him in a Derby prep next time out?

“I'll quote Mr. Todd Pletcher, 'We're gonna let the horse lead us to that decision,'” Irwin responded. “If we do the conservative thing, we'll look to run him in a small race somewhere. If we want to go crazy, we'll look at either the [GII Toyota] Blue Grass [at Keeneland Apr. 3] or [GII] Wood [Memorial at Aqueduct Apr. 3].”

Irwin concluded, “The problem is, he was ready to run in a prep race for the Tampa Bay Derby. If we had gotten that prep race in, then we'd be in a nice spot. Now, we have to be Big Brown in order to pull off something like that [make the Kentucky Derby]. My clients, by in large, are all dreamers and the Derby is the ultimate lure.”

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Irwin: Independent Overseer Will Ensure Integrity

What's the big deal about the new racing legislation?

When I called for horseracing to find a way to install the United States Anti-Doping Agency as the overseer of drugs in an Op/Ed for The Blood-Horse back in 2004, I did so with some specific goals in mind. My overriding reason, however, was to have an agency that was independent.

Now that USADA will be given the job, nobody knows whether the hopes and dreams of those who worked so tirelessly to make USADA's presence a reality will be fully accomplished. One thing that everybody in the sport can be sure of is that special interests will no longer be able to tilt the playing fields or the halls of justice.

Over the years people have asked me why special interests fought so hard to keep the legislation from being enacted. The answers are many but they all boil down to unethical participants in racing being stopped from running their games and not paying any price when they get caught.

As I explained to my peers who fought side by side to bring the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act to fruition, the one thing the bill's opponents dread is that when they or members of their team get caught breaking the rules they will be unable to find a way in a boardroom, steward's stand, men's club or corporate office to obtain a favorable outcome.

Anybody paying the least bit of attention to what is going on right now will know exactly what I am writing about. An unbeaten young stallion's reputation is on the line in an ongoing battle that involved a racing board, a steward's office and selective interpretation of rules. Another case is going through the adjudication process involving a positive for a banned substance and a bonus reportedly worth millions of dollars.

We have all seen horsemen and owners break rules yet escape with favorable rulings or slaps on the wrist.

At the same time we have seen trainers cheat with impunity and watched as those charged with the responsibility of going after them sit on their hands or shrug their shoulders. Why, one may wonder, would racetracks, stewards, medical directors and racing boards protect the guilty?

Well, they all have conflicts of interest. Racetracks all think that it is trainers who bring in owners and racetracks need owners to supply their racing cards. Stewards, by and large, are concerned first and foremost with keeping their jobs and they learn early on in their tenure that the best way to accomplish this goal is not to rock the boat. Racing boards, like racetracks, are loath to bring cheating trainers to justice for fear of tarnishing the sport, as though by the cheating trainers' actions they had not done so already.

I really hate to have to write this next part of this Op/Ed because it is so embarrassing to racing, but I humbly submit to you that some owners at the highest level of the sport only participate because they can game the system and get away with it.

And these people, as well as their trainers, live in mortal fear of not being able to find a get-out-of-jail card after they break the rules. They count on this aspect of the sport. They know the tracks will not turn them in. And plenty of others feel the same way.

So what scares the hell out of these miscreants is an agency like USADA headed by a world-renown sports cop being in charge, because they know Travis Tygart is not going to roll over and play dead.

Owners and trainers who play by the rules in the main understand how important and liberating this concept is and can be, but there have been others—especially trainers—who have fought against the legislation. They don't want trainers held up to scrutiny or caught and adjudicated because these innocent horsemen think that all of them will be unfairly painted with the same brush. It is the same philosophy engaged in by racetracks, who worry racing will be put in a bad light by trainers being exposed as cheats.

Nothing could be further from the truth. It is only when a sport takes itself seriously, like Major League Baseball has done from time to time, that it can thrive and soar to new heights of popularity.

As important as it is for fans and gamblers to believe in the integrity of racing, it is just as important for owners and trainers to believe in it as well. In a sport well-managed and adjudicated, pride of ownership can return in North America and trainers can once again go to restaurants or walk in the front door of their house carrying a Daily Racing Form without fear of embarrassment.

So, yeah, passage of the “Integrity” aspect of the new law is a big deal. It is, in fact, such a big deal that it might very well save our sport.

Passage of the bill, it must be said in closing, is only the beginning. In order for USADA to be successful it must rely on assistance from ethical owners and trainers. So instead of mimicking silent officials in racing who sat by and let cheating take place, we will need owners to report on a new hotline any instances they know of regarding cheating so that Travis Tygart and his team can root out evil wherever they find it.

I have every faith that owners will comply, and some faith that a lot of trainers will comply. I do, however, fear that the code of silence among those of the current generation will prevail and make USADA's job harder. Perhaps as in many things today the next generation will save our sorry asses, because in order to keep this sport on the level and make it fair for everybody, help will be required.

Barry Irwin is founder and chief executive officer of Team Valor International.

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Irwin: With Horseracing Integrity And Safety Authority, Will The Culture Change?

Sixteen years after I first suggested in an Op/Ed in The Blood-Horse that the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) should be hired to oversee drugs in American racing and eight years after like-minded horse folks founded the grass roots organization named the Water Hay Oats Alliance (whose mission statement mirrored my original suggestion), the sport of horse racing in the United States is on the verge of seeing this goal at long last come to fruition with Monday's announcement that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will push for the creation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.

USADA supremo Travis Tygart will not be beaten in his attempt to rein in cheaters, just as the current investigations that have led to the initial arrests of accused trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis have shown what can be accomplished when real G-men go after rule breakers.

To me it is a given that systems, protocols and policing practices will be put in place by USADA and dedicated investigators will be hired to put a stop to cheating with the illegal designer drugs that have turned hitherto unknown horsemen into trainers with Hall of Fame credentials.

As far as I am concerned, the hard work that is to come is finally in the hands of those who can be trusted to make this happen.

We are now ready to focus on the next elephant in the room: the culture of the North American backstretch community, which includes those trainers, owners, veterinarians and other assorted enablers and misfits that do not want to follow the rules.

I look at the past decade as a time in racing that is reminiscent of the Black Sox Scandal in baseball. While our scandal in some regards is still unfolding as the investigations continue for the next year or so, it is time for all of us to take a strong look at the culture that made it happen, because unless this culture can change, racing cannot hope to turn the page and seek recognition as a clean sport.

Cheating by trainers, vets and owners with illegal and unknown Performance Enhancing Drugs has until very recently gone largely unchecked because those agencies charged with regulating the sport have shown no interest in addressing the problem.

Horsemen's organizations, State regulators, racetrack operators, racing boards and the media with few exceptions have not done their job of creating a positive culture. Trainers bent on cheating come up with any number of reasons that are as lame as the unsoundest horse in the barn to be able to keep their candy. State regulators will not rock the boat for fear of losing their jobs. Racetrack owners have been operating under the false notion that exposing cheaters will hurt their business. Racing boards are peopled by political appointees that want to defer rather than regulate. The media has enough clued-in writers and analysts to make a difference, but instead of being real they have made a light industry of glorifying trainers that cheat because that is what is expected of them.

OK, so now that a rejuvenating breath of fresh air is about to be ushered into the sport thanks to installing USADA to oversee drugs in racing and the horsemen's pleas to retain all of their drugs has been silenced, will those movers and shakers in racing agree to play the game on the level?

I am extremely worried the answer may be “no” given the history of the sport and the unbridled energy of the worst aspects of human nature. I do believe that plenty of horsemen and owners seek an edge only because they think everybody who is winning does the same thing. I think these people can and will adapt to a more normal way of doing business. I know plenty of them really appreciate the change.

The ones I fear are those horsemen that have seen the awesome power of illegal drugs and no matter what happens will always seek an edge because they have been emasculated by the power of drugs and think their skills will never be good enough to allow them to win on the square.

While most horsemen outwardly behave as though they have confidence in themselves, the truth is that very few of them really do and they live in mortal fear of being found out as a fraud.

I reckon that many of these will fall by the wayside, because if they are forced to stop cheating, their stats will reflect the new normal and fewer owners will supply them with horses. Others who are smarter than the average fellow will continue to cheat and, for a time, may continue to get away with it. But eventually the axe will fall not only them but their enablers—the owners who supply them with drugs, the money to buy drugs and expensive horses.

My hope for racing—and it is just that, a hope—is that those individuals who have enjoyed phenomenal success because of their cheating and only play a game they can dominate if they can cheat—will fade from view and go back to other money games on Wall Street or the corporate jungle and return to swindling their peers, while leaving the rest of us cases of arrested development to conduct our silly contests of equine speed.

Once the landscape has been cleared, racing in my fantasy world would take place on a level playing field for the first time in an entire human generation and those folks who really like the horses will produce a product that can be embraced by all of those horseplayers, fans, owners and trainers who love the greatest game played outdoors.

It could happen.

Barry Irwin is the founder and CEO of Team Valor International.

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