Gustavo Delgado this year became the first Hispanic trainer to win the Kentucky Derby since Lazaro Barerra did it in 1978 with Affirmed. There have been a number of successful trainers of Hispanic heritage throughout the annals of racing history, including Hall of Famers Horatio Luro, Angel Penna Sr., Barrera, and Frank “Pancho” Martin. In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, Daily Racing Form profiles three Hispanic trainers currently making their mark on the game. John Ortiz When Brightwork won the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes on Sept. 3 at Saratoga, the emotions of the seven-year journey to get to that moment hit John Ortiz – especially after he saw his assistant Lindsey Reynolds, who had been with him since he went out on his own in 2016. “The first thing I told her when I hired her was I was going to take her to the top,” Ortiz, 37, recalled. “When I saw her, I gave her a big hug. We started with four horses, [Reynolds] grooming, me riding and hotwalking, trying to figure out how I’m going to make payroll and here we are at one of the biggest stages of the world and now we joined an elite club of trainers to win a Grade 1 at Saratoga.” :: Bet the races with a $250 First Deposit Match + $10 Free Bet and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. Ortiz is a native of Colombia who moved to the United States – specifically Elmont, N.Y. – when he was 5 years old. Carlos Ortiz, John’s father, was a jockey who moved his tack to the United States and rode some in New York and the Mid-Atlantic region. Ortiz got his first job on the track with trainer Bill Mott, whom he had met at a barbecue. Ortiz worked for several other horsemen, including Steve Asmussen, Dominic Galluscio, Barclay Tagg, Graham Motion, and Mott again before taking an assistant’s job with Kellyn Gorder in Kentucky. In 2016, he decided to go out on his own with less than a handful of horses. “It’s a very prestige world that we live in on the racetrack,” Ortiz said. “You have generation families that train and breed horses so to try and come in as a young Hispanic to make a name for myself it was tough. I don’t use that as a crutch or anything like that. I believe, like anybody else in America, you have an equal chance to make it in anything you do. “There were days when I didn’t think this was going to work,” Ortiz added. “I just woke up and continued pushing through no matter how tired, no matter how low the bank account was that year. There’s just that American dream you got work hard for it.” Ortiz said fortunes turned when he met owners Hootie Moore and Bill Simon. Ortiz was able to add them to existing clients Brent and Sharilyn Gasawa to form a successful claiming partnership. “Once those three gave me the opportunity, believed in my dreams and supported me, that’s where everything really turned around,” Ortiz said. The stable improved to where quality horses like Barber Road, who made it to the 2022 Kentucky Derby, Whelen Springs, and Hollis came into the barn. Brightwork and Crown Imperial, a recent stakes winner at Kentucky Downs, now head the 55- to 60-head string based in Kentucky. Ortiz said the support from his current clients “keeps me going, makes me not just a better horsemen, but a better person having them in my life.” Jose Francisco D’Angelo A third generation horsemen from Venezuela, where he became a champion trainer, just like his father, D’Angelo has enjoyed terrific success in North America since starting here in 2019. In just his second year of training, he got the horse Jesus’ Team to the Preakness, where he finished third. That horse took D’Angelo all over, finishing second in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, second in the 2021 Pegasus World Cup, and sixth in the Dubai World Cup. “Jesus’ Team put me on the map,” D’Angelo, 33, said. “I’m very grateful. Through him I met tons of people and I learned how to move the horse all around, the paperwork and the all the different rules. It’s hard when you have different rules in different states.” D’Angelo’s stable has ballooned from 12 horses in early 2020 to 85 horses now. While he’s mainly stabled in South Florida, D’Angelo has taken stalls in New York and hopes to have a string here through the winter and, potentially in 2024 year round. Through Thursday, D’Angelo has won 102 races, besting the 96 wins he had in 2022. This year, D’Angelo has enjoyed success with his 2-year-old crop led by Bentornato and Welcome Back, who have combined to win all five of their starts, including two divisions of the Florida Sire Stakes. Regarding the colt Bentornato, D’Angelo said he will focus on the next leg of the Florida Sire Stakes, on Oct. 21, rather than consider the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, with an eye toward developing him for his 3-year-old season. “I have a good barn of babies,” said D’Angelo, who has won 10 2-year-old races this year. “You have to show your skills with the babies. Some people look at numbers, but when you win just claiming races they’re like okay. Everybody wants to go to the Derby and the big races and the only way to do that is with good babies.” D’Angelo said his goal is to maintain his consistency. “If you are doing good work, if you just keep focused and keep working, good things are going to come,” he said. Jorge Abreu A native of the Dominican Republic, where his father was one of the top riders, Abreu came to the United States in 1985. He was introduced to racing by his parents, who worked for trainer Stanley “Skippy” Shapoff before his father went to work for Murray Garren, which was when Abreu first came onto the track. Abreu worked for trainers Kay Erik Jensen, John Terranova, Nick Zito, and then Chad Brown before going out on his own in 2016. Abreu won with the first horse he started, Woodville, who won a maiden race by 11 1/2 lengths in July 2016 at Saratoga. The horse came back to win again at Saratoga in his second start. Abreu, 49, has won 173 career races, 17 of them being stakes. He won four stakes each with half-sisters Venti Valentine and Espresso Shot and three stakes with Runaway Rumour. Oddly, Abreu is 0 for 64 in graded stakes, having finished second in a pair of graded events with Venti Valentine and third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Stellar Agent in 2018. “So far, the horses I’ve been getting, I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job,” Abreu said. “Just looking for that graded stakes. I’ve been finishing second and third, but I haven’t won.” (Venti Valentine was entered for the main track only in Saturday’s Grade 3 Noble Damsel.) Abreu currently has a 49-horse string, all based in New York. He has more young horses than he’s had in the past, including the filly Jody’s Pride, a 10 1/2-length winner of an off-the-turf maiden race at Saratoga in August. Abreu is hopeful of getting that runner on the turf in the Grade 3 Matron Stakes. “She gave me that feeling she’s a really good turf horse. We’ll give her a shot and see what happens,” Abreu said. Though overall Abreu has had a bit of down year with just 20 wins, he says he has about 10 to 15 more 2-year-olds he has yet to start, including an unnamed filly by American Pharoah. “I’ve been bigger but I think I have better quality now,” Abreu said. “I have a couple of 2-year-olds I haven’t started that I feel really good about.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.