While at the helm of Team Valor International, Barry Irwin has been associated with a lot of quality horses, chief among them the 2011 GI Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}). Does he now have another potential Derby winner? It's way too early to tell, but it does appear that Team Valor may have a future star in 'TDN Rising Star presented by Hagyard' U.S.S. Valor (War of Will), who is coming off a sensational performance in a Saratoga maiden and figures to be the favorite in Saturday's GI Champagne Stakes at Belmont.Irwin is never afraid to speak his mind and he did so when joining this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland to discuss U.S.S. Valor, his thoughts on the state of the game and HISA, his newly released novel and more. Irwin was the Gainesway Guest of the Week.U.S.S. Valor was a promising third in his debut after a troubled trip, but did Irwin expect that the colt's second start would result in a 13 1/4-length win and a 105 Beyer Figure? How nervous was he before the race?“I knew he was a good horse and the anxiety leading up to that race was like nothing I have ever experienced,” Irwin said. “Before Animal Kingdom won the Derby, I would get nervous all the time. I'd have to visit the restroom. I'd get this little tingly thing under my tongue that I used to get when I ran track. And once Animal Kingdom won the Derby, it all went away. Until the week before this horse [U.S.S. Valor] made his second start, I averaged about four hours' sleep a night. After he won I got a great night's sleep. Yes, you have to worry about the bounce off a performance like that. We have to live with that 24 hours a day. The part about his race that I can't stop thinking about is that the horse acted green when he got in the stretch. So from the quarter pole to the eighth pole, Manny Franco rode him. I didn't think he needed to. He let up on him in the last sixteenth and that was nice. I'm not like sweating it. I think we can bounce and still win. But if you didn't worry about the bounce, you'd be an idiot.”The Champagne will be run in early October, some seven months removed from the Derby. So does Irwin already have Derby fever?“I definitely have it,” he said. “My brain is always running, so I've already thought several moves down the road and that's one of the reasons I haven't been sleeping that great lately. I've had plenty of good horses, but I have never had anything remotely as exciting as this horse.”Irwin has long advocated for a cleaner sport. Does he think the situation has improved and is HISA doing the work that needs to be done?“We've got about 20 here and 20 in Europe,” he said. “I don't like U.S. racing as much as I used to and that's why we race so much in Europe. One reason is the drug issue here. I'm not taking credit for starting HISA, but I did write a story in the BloodHorse and I said that we needed to hire USADA and bring them in to run the sport. And after that, we started WHOA and we passed the legislation that got us HISA. I'm still a fan of HISA and the idea of HISA. But there's a lot about it that I don't like. One of the things I don't like is I don't think they're really going after the people that are cheating. There's plenty of people out there who are still cheating and I'm not alone in this contention. Until I see it cleaned up, I'm not going to be that happy about it. The most depressing part of the whole thing are the types of people that gravitate towards the trainers that look like they're cheating. You have some major, major players, and I find that very depressing personally.”As for the “Fastest Horse of the Week,” there were two. Santa Anita allowance winner Liam Smith (Midshipman) and GII Lukas Classic Stakes winner Dragoon Guard (Arrogate) both earned 107 Beyer Figures. The Fastest Horse of the Week is sponsored by WinStar Farm, which stands the sire Nashville.Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the PHBA, 1/ST TV, and West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Randy Moss, Bill Finley and Zoe Cadman reviewed the GII Beldame Stakes and applauded the connections of Nitrogen (Medagalia d'Oro) for committing to run her next year as a 5-year-old. They also touched on the season being turned in by the red-hot Saffie Joseph Jr., who finished one-two in the GI Goodwood Stakes, and they previewed this weekend's slate of Grade I races.For audio only of the podcast, click here. For video, click here. The post Barry Irwin Joins the TDN Writers’ Room Podcast Presented by Keeneland appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.