Jones promoted to vice president of Team Valor

Team Valor International, the partnership entity headed by Barry Irwin, promoted Megan Jones to vice president on Tuesday. Jones, 29, previously served as the operation's director of client relations.

“It is time for Megan to step up and learn to take over the stable," Irwin stated in a release. "She knows the company, she knows the clients, she knows the horses, she knows the stable staff, and she is a tireless worker with a love for the game and for Team Valor.”

Jones is a native of South Carolina and earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Clemson University in 2008. She became involved with horses as a child, competing on the show circuit aboard hunters and jumpers through her teenage years. Jones has worked for Team Valor for six years.

Irwin also said that he would remain as president of Team Valor and would never fully retire, but would eventually transfer management of all day-to-day operations to Jones. Team Valor has had recent success with 2011 Kentucky Derby and 2013 Dubai World Cup winner Animal Kingdom. The company was developed by Irwin, a former turf writer and bloodstock agent, and Jeff Siegel in the early 1990s, with Irwin assuming sole ownership in 2007.