Elijah Arroyo, the son of a jockey turned jockey agent, moved steadily whereas rising up, typical of households concerned in thoroughbred racing. When the now 26-year-old began working at racetracks as a youngster, his first job was on the barn of famed Southern California-based coach John Sadler. From there, he honed his horsemanship abilities whereas working for different trainers, together with Richard Baltas and Robert Falcone Jr., in each California and New York.
Arroyo appeared destined to grow to be a horse coach, however as an alternative he turned his focus to the livestock enterprise, partnering along with his father, Nelson, lengthy retired from racing, to discovered Arroyo Bloodstock in Ocala, Florida. Simply two years into Pinhook, the father-son workforce made a splash on the 2025 Ocala Breeders’ Sale March Sale with two-year-old horses in coaching. A son of Midshipman bought for $650,000 after Arroyo Bloodstock acquired the stallion for $140,000 on the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The horse was one in all 5 pinhooks bought by the Arroyos, all of which exceeded the value of a yearling.
As well as, they partnered with Brandon Arroyo, Elijah’s brother, to create TBX/Thoroughbred Trade. It is a web-based platform, quickly to be obtainable as an app, that gives information comparable to gallop-out instances and movies to assist the client choice course of on the time of sale.
Elijah Arroyo’s reply has been edited for area and readability.
Blood Horse: Together with your early work within the racing trade, you had the chance to grow to be a coach. Why use blood inventory as an alternative?
Elijah Arroyo: That basically struck a chord with me, my father, and my brother. I believe it was in all probability the primary time I felt like every part was going nicely. The entire strategy of going to the sale and selecting a horse felt proper. I believe it was one thing I did not know a lot about earlier than, a starvation to know extra, and a way that I used to be beginning to perceive it. I am very completely satisfied. One other half is the truth that we will be concerned of their taming and coaching (at Britton Peak, headquartered at Oak Ridge Coaching Heart close to Morriston, Florida) and of their subsequent buy throughout the gross sales part. It feels nice to be part of that complete course of.
BH: What’s it like working with your loved ones?
EA: It is the very best. We now have loads in widespread, however we even have lots of variations that assist us work collectively in a extremely constructive means. My father was once a jockey, so he has a superb eye for horses. It actually provides you a singular perspective when horses. I’ve at all times been inquisitive about numbers, comparable to evaluation and statistics, so I made a decision to place that collectively. Whereas he’s wanting on the horse, I can take a look at numerous statistics in regards to the stallion and his household. We mix all of them.
My youthful brother Brandon may be very inquisitive about media, images, and videography. He is a grasp at it, and it is a large a part of our TBX enterprise. By filming movies and taking pictures of so many alternative horses, Brandon began to develop a extremely good eye. All of us have a great combine of various views, so every time we land on a horse, we’ve got lots of confidence transferring ahead.
BH: How did you and your father get into the livestock aspect of the enterprise?
EA: We had lots of nice mentors: Dean DeRenzo, Randy Hartley, Donato Lani, Nick Hines, David Mee, Nathan McCauley, and Chad Summers. There are lots of actually good folks round us.
BH: Who obtained you excited now that a number of the pin hooks you bought are actually arriving on the lace?
EA: For us, watching them race is the much more thrilling half. For instance, Desert Gate (purchased as a yearling for $100,000, bought as a two-year-old for $260,000, two Grade 1s and a Grade 3 winner) was an excellent pinhook, however not our most profitable. However for us he’s a very powerful horse due to what he has achieved in racing and meaning loads.
BH: How is the cash raised to purchase a horse as a yearling?
EA: Each horse we personal has a syndicate behind it. To get began, we reached out to quite a lot of individuals who needed to attach with us. Not less than for us, we discovered it very tough to distinguish which horse to purchase for whom, since everybody desires to purchase the identical horse for pinhooks. If two shoppers have a funds of $50,000 for a horse, they basically should prioritize one over the opposite as to which horse will qualify for that worth. We put our shoppers collectively (on horseback) and felt there have been no priorities. Everybody will get precedence. We felt it was crucial. It doesn’t matter what your funds is, the extra you possibly can stretch your funds, the higher high quality horses you may get.
BH: Annual gross sales in 2025 delivered strong outcomes. How has it affected your buying means?
EA: My dad and I sat down and checked out all the outcomes from the previous few years, and looking out on the traits, my dad stated we have been going to wish a much bigger funds (in 2025). We realized that it may be tough to purchase a horse that ticks all of the bins at a yearling sale, so by bringing our shoppers collectively we make it simpler to purchase a horse that they really feel they love. (One of many yearlings bought final 12 months was owned by Jackie’s Warrior, then a first-crop yearling sire, and was bought to Arroyo Bloodstock on the ultimate day of the OBS October Yearling Sale for $180,000, topping the record.)
BH: Do you contemplate your self fortunate that this enterprise took off so shortly?
EA: I do not consider in luck, however I do consider in blessings. We had nice lecturers. We have been very fortunate to discover ways to do it proper from the start. With regards to gross sales, I believe combining that with the expertise we’ve got gained within the racing world and staying true to our teachings has been the principle think about our success. Dean (DeRenzo) and Randy (Hartley) taught us some crucial issues when horses and analyzing horses that we really feel contributed to our success. And so are the others I discussed earlier.
All of them gave us very useful little tips on shopping for horses and caring for them over the winter. If it weren’t for his or her teachings and steerage, we in all probability would have been on the identical level (once we began). I believe that is a key a part of accelerating our success. We’re simply making an attempt to maintain our heads down and keep humble as a result of there’s nonetheless loads to study.
