Valor Farm: A Piece of Kentucky in Texas

The landscape of Valor Farm differs greatly from the Quarter Horse, Paint Horse, and Appaloosa ranches that surround it. Near Pilot Point, Texas, where Valor Farm sits on nearly 400 acres, many of the top Quarters, Paints, and Appaloosas reside. From one of the greatest American Paint Horses of all time in Zippos Sensation, to 2010 USEF Horse of the Year and World Equestrian Games Team and Individual Gold Medalist in reining in Gunners Special Nite, and to a multiple World and National Champion Appaloosa in Diversified, the Pilot Point area is definitely horse country. It’s just a different kind of horse country than the Lexington, Kentucky area is.

Photo by Mary Cage

However, Valor Farm brings a piece of the Bluegrass to the Lone Star State. Unlike the pipe fences that line the stock horse ranches nearby, Valor is lined with black wooden fences like many of the Thoroughbred farms in Kentucky. That’s because it is a Thoroughbred farm.

Valor Farm is owned by royalty of the horse industry: the Scharbauers. The land was purchased by Clarence and Dorothy Scharbauer in 1991, four years after Dorothy and her daughter Pam won the Kentucky Derby (GI) with America’s Horse and the all-time great, Alysheba.

Clarence Sharbauer, who was once the president of the American Quarter Horse Association, is a member of the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame. His late wife, Dorothy, wasn’t just involved with a Kentucky Derby winner once. In 1959, her father, Fred Turner Jr. won the Run for the Roses with Tomy Lee.

Now, 20 years after the Sharbauers purchased the land that Valor Farm sits upon, the farm is home to some of the top horses in the South, including the second leading sire in Texas, Early Flyer. A muscular chestnut, Early Flyer was a very talented sprinter, having won the San Vicente Stakes (GII) and the Lazaro Barrera Memorial Stakes (GIII). His dam, Bistra, produced two graded stakes winners including him and two stakes-placed horses. Early Flyer’s half-sister, Fun House, is the dam of the grade one-winning Paddy O’Prado. As a stallion, Early Flyer has produced many talented horses, including multiple stakes winner and 2008 Texas Champion Three-Year-Old Filly Formal Flyer and multiple stakes winner Early Final.

Photo by Mary Cage

Also on their stallion roster is Indygo Mountain, whose stakes-winning dam is a half-sister to grade one-winning Siphonic. One of Valor’s most intriguing stallions is Jet Phone, the teaser-turned-sire, who sired multiple stakes-winning Aces N Kings, the only horse he has sired that has ever raced. My Golden Song, a beautiful gray that once finished third to Barbaro, also stands at Valor and is the 18th leading sire in Texas. Silver City, a stakes winner and a grade two-placed horse, is a new addition to Valor's roster. Wimbledon, the 5th leading sire in Texas, has quickly become a very successful sire for Valor. The winner of the 2004 Louisiana Derby (GII) was the leading Southwest Freshman Sire of 2009, the 2nd leading Texas Sire in 2010, and the leading Texas Second-Crop sire of 2010.

Valor Farm is not just home to those six stallions. Also on the farm are plenty of broodmares, weanlings, yearlings, and racehorses. I have visited the farm three times and recently visited while with my mom for her photography clinic.

Flying Native on the right
Photo by Mary Cage

It is always exciting for me to stroll around a Thoroughbred farm. Usually when one visits a Thoroughbred farm, he or she is limited to just seeing the stallions. However, each time I have visited Valor, I have been able to stroll around the entire farm and see the many horses.

On my most recent trip to Valor Farm, I eagerly headed up to one of the broodmare paddocks. The last time I had visited the farm, I had met a beautiful broodmare named Flying Native. The bay mare had been especially kind and was an impressive sight.

I spotted her immediately. The mahogany bay stood alongside a gray mare, the white stripe on her face contrasting against the brown hairs that covered most of her body. Heavy in foal, she ambled around the paddock and walked up to the fence, gazing at the many cameras facing her.

Two weanlings under a beautiful sky
Photo by Mary Cage

I then headed to a large weanling paddock, where two weanlings munched on hay. All of a sudden, the two took off, galloping under the beautiful sky that had turned many colors. Across the lane, an older horse jogged around its paddock, showing off. The weanlings then stepped it up a notch, lengthening their strides and galloping around the entire paddock. It was clear the horses were competing for attention.

Strolling a bit farther along the lane, I came across two paddocks, both filled with what seemed to be yearlings. In one paddock, three yearlings mimicked each other and stared eagerly at the people looking at them while in the other paddock, three yearlings pranced around.

Jet Phone
Photo by Mary Cage

It was then time to go see the stallions. The first stallion I came across was the beautiful bay, Jet Phone. While a herd of weanlings galloped in the large pasture across the lane, Jet Phone ambled up to the fence, hanging his handsome head over the top board. I’d seen Aces N Kings race before and was riveted by his story, but it was my first time to ever see his sire, Jet Phone, in person. The stallion was very eye-catching.

The next stallion I came across was the successful Early Flyer. His huge jaw fit his attractive face and his stout body was covered in a blue sheet to keep him warm in the cool wind. His copper mane fluttered in the wind as he gazed around him, looking upon the large paddocks that graced Valor. It was clear that he knew he was the king of the farm.

Across the path from Early Flyer’s paddock was My Golden Song. The gray also hung his head over the top board, his black and gray mane ruffled by the breeze. The clouds behind him were colored in brilliant pastels, casting a glow over the land.

Just yards away was the 5th leading sire in Texas, Wimbledon. The light gray stood serenely along the fence line, resting his head on the highest board. He too was clothed in a sheet of Valor's main color: royal blue.

Indygo Mountain
Photo by Mary Cage

The final stallion I took photographs of was Indygo Mountain, an absolutely gorgeous chestnut. His distinctive blaze ran down his face, splotched with random spots that matched the color of the rest of his coat. His ears remained pricked the entire time. It was as if he was smiling for the camera.

The final part of my time spent at Valor was admiring the interior of the stallion barn. When I stepped inside, I spotted Silver City in the wash rack, receiving a bath. His charcoal gray coat was splattered with soap and he stood calmly for the man bathing him.

My time at Valor had ended. It had been a wonderful hour spent at the farm, which exhibits some of the classiest Thoroughbreds in Texas. Though the Thoroughbred industry in Texas isn’t exactly flourishing, Valor displays brilliant Thoroughbreds on a farm that was inspired by two Kentucky Derby winners in the family. Kentucky may be the heart and soul of Thoroughbred breeding and racing, but who says every state can’t have its own little piece of Kentucky?

Click here to see more photos I took.

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