Abreu Ascension

[Wandering Eyes]

When it comes to good horses, Jorge Abreu knows a thing or two because he’s seen a thing or two. The 44-year-old, who served as a nine-year assistant to the juggernaut operation of Eclipse-Award winning trainer Chad Brown, branched out on his own in 2016, and since that time, has fashioned an enviable record. With over 200 starts under his belt, the horseman’s stable has amassed over $2-million in earnings.

“I had a great season so far,” affirmed Abreu. “A lot of nice horses came to my barn this year compared to last year. I got a good mix of horses, like claiming, allowance, 2 year olds and a couple of stakes horses–they haven’t started yet, but they look like they’re going to go that way.”

Among his most notable performers this season, Stellar Agent (More Than Ready), who broke her maiden sprinting over the Saratoga sod Aug. 31, finished third in both the GII Miss Grillo S. at Belmont Sept. 30 and the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf Nov. 2. In both graded stakes tries, the filly finished behind undefeated Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), trained by Abreu’s former boss, Chad Brown.

“It was a great experience being in the Breeders’ Cup,” recalled Abreu. “When the filly came to me, I really liked her since day one. I’m not going to lie to you and say that I thought she was going to be Breeders’ Cup material, but when she showed up in the Miss Grillo S., we took the shot and ran her [at Churchill Downs]. And, I was pretty positive that she was going hit the board in the Breeders’ Cup because she was training that way.”

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This season’s team also consisted of GIII Florida Oaks runner up Goodthingstaketime (Ire) (Canford Cliffs {Ire}), winner of a Gulfstream allowance Dec. 7, in addition to Pas de Soucis (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}), third in the GIII Ladies Turf at Kentucky Downs in September.

Horseman in the Making..

A native of the Dominican Republic, Abreu was introduced to horses at a young age via his parents Reynaldo and Martha, and worked weekends on the backstretch for trainer Murray Garren after the family immigrated to the U.S. in 1984.

“Back home, my dad used to be a top rider [in the Dominican Republic] in the 1980s,” explained Abreu. “When we got here in 1984, I used to come to the track with my mom and dad every Saturday and Sunday. I used to be around the shedrow with Murray Garren. I used to roll the bandages, wash the feed tubs and water buckets. And from there, that’s all I know.”

Following his time with Garren, Abreu galloped for trainer Billy Badget, and later worked for John Terranova before joining Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito. During his six-year tenure with Zito, Abreu became acquainted with a slew of graded winners, including GI Wood Memorial victor Bellamy Road and two-time GI Whitney hero Commentator. Joining the fledgling Brown operation in May 2008, Abreu had the opportunity to view the Mechanicville, New York horseman’s meteoric ascent to the top of the training ranks. While under the direction of the former assistant to legendary horseman Bobby Frankel, Abreu had a front-row seat to horses of the highest caliber, including Lady Eli, Big Blue Kitten, Stacelita, Flintshire, Stephanie’s Kitten, Zagora, Dayatthespa and Bobby’s Kitten.

“It was a great experience for me working for Chad,” explained Abreu, whose brother Reynaldo is one of Brown’s main assistants after several years of training on his own. “I learned a lot over the years. We worked with a lot of different kind of horses. When we started, like everybody else, when you start your business of training horses, it’s kind of slow. But then, over the years, we just kept doing better and better. It was good teamwork and I learned a lot from Chad.”

Steadily expanding his operation over the past two seasons, Abreu currently has 40 of horses under his care, a long way off from the single-horse stable he started with. While still under the employ of Brown–who collected his first Saratoga training title with a record 40 wins in 2016–Abreu was represented by a single runner, Woodville (Ghoszapper), who was two-for-two at the summer meet that season. Jumping in with both feet in 2017, Abreu runners won seven races from 68 starts while amassing earnings of $315,949, but the horseman watched as those figures spiked this year when the stable accounted for 27 wins and earnings over $1.6 million.

“It was just time for me to make that move,” explained Abreu. “You know, I wanted to do things on my own. [Owners have] been supporting me and upgrading my horses and sending me different kinds of horses every year and putting their trust in me. So, I’m blessed.”

Hope Springs Eternal…

Following two seasons of steady growth, the horseman looks forward to what the new season may bring and hopes to continue the upward trend.

“Well, I’m going to run things the same way,” he said. “I think I have a better quality of horses right now, and I’ve got a couple promising 2-year-olds that haven’t started yet.”

Among the potential stars of the barn, 2-year-old Moravia (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}) graduated third-time out at Leopardstown June 7 before finishing runner up to Skitter Scatter (Scat Daddy) in the G3 Silver Flash S. July 26. The latter went on to add victories in The Curragh’s G2 Debutante S. and G1 Moyglare S. in September.

“[Moravia] was rated second-best 2-year-old over there to Skitter Skatter,” he explained. “I had her and she had a little step back, so we sent her to the farm and she’s back in training.”

Another European acquisition, Ardara Belle (Fr) (Anodin {Ire}), who won first out at Fountainbleu in September, has also given her trainer high hopes for 2019.

“We just had a new one named Ardara Belle (Fr) that came from France. She’s a good filly. I think she’s going to be making noise in 2019.”

 

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