2018 Eclipse Awards: Mike Abraham

Mike Abraham’s diverse equine interests as a breeder in 2018 were led by Accelerate, who won five Grade 1 races, including the Breeders’ Cup Classic, to make himself a finalist for Horse of the Year and outstanding older dirt male.

Abraham has owned a farm in his native New Mexico since the early 1980s, and splits his Thoroughbred broodmare band between there and Jacob Nance’s I.R. Bloodstock at Dearborn Farm in Kentucky. He also maintains a large Quarter Horse operation in New Mexico.

Abraham purchased Accelerate’s dam, the winning Florida-bred Issues, for $25,000 out of the 2011 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. The Awesome Again mare was carrying a Scat Daddy foal at the time, Daddy D T, who went on to be a stakes winner and finish third in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Daddy D T’s full brother Amarish also is a stakes winner. Abraham sent Issues to Lookin At Lucky in 2012 for the breeding that produced Accelerate, whom he sold for $380,000 at the 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale.

:: 2018 Eclipse Finalists: Profiles and photos for all categories