Accelerate Putting Breeder Abraham in the Spotlight

A breeding program that began with a single horse and healthy dose of trial and error. A mare purchased borderline sight unseen. A mating that came about when initial plans to follow a track record of success had a wrench thrown in its path.

The artful collision of circumstances has yielded many a great moment in the sport of Thoroughbred racing and breeding. In the case of the nation's current leading handicap horse, Kentucky-bred Accelerate , his very existence hinged on all of the above coming together just so.

Considering fate played a large role in pushing Accelerate's breeder Mike Abraham into the business to begin with, it is only fitting the chestnut who represents arguably his best ever work came about as a result of trusting certain attributes were manifesting for a reason—then reacting accordingly.

While breeders in New Mexico have long known Abraham to be among their most successful, as the breeder of multiple grade 1 winner and expected Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) favorite Accelerate, Abraham figures to have his moniker bandied about when Eclipse Award balloting takes place, a feat that would be the proverbial gravy to what has already been a kismet-filled joyride.

A native of Albuquerque, Abraham has been involved in the oil and gas industry and real estate, while also building a commercial Thoroughbred breeding operation. The query of how his business, which currently has about 60 Thoroughbred broodmares between New Mexico and Jacob Nance's I.R. Bloodstock at Dearborn Farm in Kentucky, got off the ground is met with a slight chuckle and drawing of breath as Abraham recognizes that his path is not the usual path.

"The smart guys like (D. Wayne) Lukas and (Bob) Baffert went from Quarters Horses to Thoroughbreds," Abraham recounts. "I went from Thoroughbreds to Quarter Horses and back again."

While attending races as a fan, Abraham had a chance meeting decades ago with his former high school basketball coach who encouraged him to go in with him in claiming a Thoroughbred for themselves. They ended up on the wrong end of about a 10-way shake, but for the next year Abraham sunk himself into learning everything he could about racing and breeding. He eventually claimed his first horse, a filly named Gaelic Sue.

In need of a place to board his charge for a freshening, Abraham ended up sending her to a farm about 30 minutes outside Albuquerque. After several visits, he realized the owner of that operation needed to sell. Hence, Abraham bought the farm himself in the early 1980s and, with his filly as the lone occupant, set about trying to give her some company.

"I ended up buying that farm she was at because the guy who had bought it, he was sort of over his head and having a hard time," said Abraham, who also maintains a Quarter Horse broodmare band in New Mexico and whose primary residence is in Las Vegas. "So I had a horse farm with one horse and I felt it was my obligation to fill it up. And I learned the hard way. I can tell you that.

"I went through a lot of trials and tribulations, buying stuff where I didn't really know what I was doing. But I always wanted to keep fillies. I'd keep the mares, sell colts, kept fillies, and so I ended up with a bunch of broodmares and it sort of trailed on from there. At first it wasn't successful but since, we've been lucky, we've done well."

Bloodlines that offer strong residual value are foremost in what Abraham looks for when scouting potential additions to his broodmare string. So when he saw a daughter of Awesome Again  named Issues selling in foal to the young stallion Scat Daddy at the 2011 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, Abraham deemed the $25,000 he ended up paying for her a relative steal—even though he hadn't had much chance to lay eyes on her before her time in the ring.

"I like Awesome Again mares and she was young at the time and in foal to Scat Daddy, who I liked but who hadn't really hit yet," Abraham said of the day he purchased Accelerate's dam. "To be honest with you, I hadn't even looked at her but when she went through the ring, I was looking at the pedigrees the night before and ... I thought, if she doesn't bring too much, I'm going to buy her. I didn't even really look at her. I was up in the pavilion ... but the price was certainly right. And the rest is certainly history."

The Scat Daddy foal Issues was carrying when Abraham purchased her went on to became stakes winner Daddy D T, a full brother to fellow stakes victor Amarish. In the vein of not fixing what wasn't broken, Abraham planned to send Issues back to Scat Daddy for 2012 but was informed by the Ashford Stud team that they might not be able to get her in.

Not wanting to miss a cycle with a mare who was already prone to having late foals, Abraham evaluated the other sires available at the farm and determined champion Lookin At Lucky —an unproven commodity in just his second year at stud—was her best match on paper. When the chestnut baby hit the ground the following May, he was a good-looking sort, especially considering he was a late foal and continued to grow into himself before eventually bringing $380,000 at the 2014 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

"We couldn't get to Scat Daddy that day so we went to Lookin At Lucky and everything has turned out great, not to say a Scat Daddy wouldn't have been great," Abraham said. "I can't take the full credit for it, but I'll take a little of it. It's sort of funny how that came about."

Since debuting in April 2016, Accelerate's career has been one of steady progression for trainer John Sadler and owner Hronis Racing featuring only one poor effort—that coming when he finished ninth in last year's Las Vegas Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1). The ability he teased of when he defeated champion Arrogate  in the TVG San Diego Handicap (G2) in July of 2017 has grown in terms of speed and stamina this season, producing four grade 1 triumphs including his 2 1/4-length victory in the Sept. 29 Awesome Again Stakes.

Abraham is planning to be in the Bluegrass when Accelerate makes his expected journey around Churchill Downs Nov. 3 but he's uncertain whether he will watch in person. The only time Abraham says he has seen Accelerate race live was when he broke his maiden by 8 3/4 lengths at Del Mar in July of 2016.

Since so much of it has swung in both his favor and that of his top alumnus, he's not sure he wants to tempt fate with so much on the line.

"I'll be at Fasig-Tipton for the sale the day after so I don't know if I'll get over (to Churchill Downs) or not," Abraham said. "I always feel like I hate to jinx him. He's on a heck of a roll and if I show up, that's liable to be the kiss of death. I'm sure wishing those guys a lot of luck ... he's quite a horse."