As the son of a jockey-turned-jockey's agent, Elijah Arroyo moved around quite a bit while growing up, typical for a family working in Thoroughbred racing. When the now 26-year-old began working on the racetrack as a teenager, his first job was in the barn of prominent Southern California-based trainer John Sadler. From there, he grew his horsemanship skills while working for other trainers—both in California and in New York—including Richard Baltas and Robert Falcone Jr.
It would have seemed that Arroyo was destined to become a trainer, but instead he shifted his focus to the bloodstock business and partnered with his father, Nelson, who has long since retired from race riding, to form Arroyo Bloodstock, which operates out of Ocala, Fla. In just its second year of pinhooking, the father-and-son team made a splash at the 2025 Ocala Breeders' Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training with a son of Midshipman selling for $650,000 after Arroyo Bloodstock acquired the colt for $140,000 at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The horse was among five pinhooks sold by the Arroyos, all of whom exceeded their yearling prices.
Additionally, they have partnered with Brandon Arroyo, Elijah's younger brother, to create TBX/Thoroughbred Exchange, a web-based platform soon to be available as an app, which provides data, such as gallop-out times and videos, to help buyers in their selection process at sales.
Elijah Arroyo's answers have been edited for space and clarity.
BloodHorse: You had the opportunity, given your early jobs in racing, to become a trainer. Why bloodstock instead?
Elijah Arroyo: It just kind of clicked with me, my dad, and my brother. I'd say it's probably the first time that everything felt right. It felt right being at the sales and picking out horses, just the whole process. I think it was something that I didn't know a lot about before, and the hunger to learn more, and the feeling of starting to figure it out. It's very pleasing. Another part is the fact that we can be involved buying them, during their breaking and training (at Britton Peak, which is headquartered at Oak Ridge Training Center near Morriston, Fla.,) and then during the sales part. It's a great feeling being a part of that whole process.
BH: What's it like to work with your family?
EA: It's the best. We have a lot of things in common, and a lot of things that we're different on, and that helps us work together in a real positive way. My dad has an amazing eye for a horse from his experience being a jockey. It really gives me a unique perspective when looking at a horse. I've always been really into numbers--analytics and stats--and so we kind of put that into play together. While he's looking at a horse, I'll be able to look at different stats of the stallion and the family. We combine all those things together.
My younger brother, Brandon, he's really into doing media, photography, and videography. He's a master at that and that has really been a big part of our TBX business. Through videoing and taking pictures of so many different horses, Brandon started to pick up a really good eye as well. We all kind of have a good blend of different perspectives, so that whenever we all land on a horse, we have a lot of confidence going forward.
BH: How did you and your father acquaint yourselves with the bloodstock side of the business?
EA: We've had a lot of great mentors: Dean DeRenzo, Randy Hartley, Donato Lanni, Nick Hines, David Meah, Nathan McCauley, and Chad Summers; just a lot of really good people have been around us.
BH: Now that you're seeing some of the pinhooks you sold reaching the races, who has excited you?
EA: For us, that's the even more exciting part, seeing them race. Desert Gate (bought for $100,000 as a yearling; sold for $260,000 at 2; and is twice grade 1-placed and a grade 3 winner), for example, he was a very, very good pinhook, but not our most successful one. But for us, he's our most important horse because of what he's achieved at the races and that means a lot.
BH: How is the capital raised to purchase the horses as yearlings?
EA: Every horse we have has a syndicate behind them. As we got started, we reached out to different people that wanted to pinhook with us. We realized, at least for us, it's very difficult to separate who you're going to buy which horses for, because everybody wants to buy the same horse to pinhook. If two clients have a budget of $50,000 for a horse, you have to basically prioritize one over the other for whichever horse might fall for that price. We felt by putting the clients together (on a horse), there is no prioritizing. Everybody becomes the priority. We felt like that was very important. Regardless of budget, it helps to be able to get a better quality horse when you're able to expand your budget.
BH: The yearling sales in 2025 produced robust results. How did that impact your ability to buy?
EA: My dad and I sat down and went through all the results the past few years, and seeing the trends, my dad says we're gonna need a bigger budget (in 2025). We realized it was going to be harder to buy those horses that check all the boxes at the yearling sales, so by putting clients together, it was easier for us to purchase the horses that we felt we loved. (One of those yearlings bought last year was by then-first-crop yearling sire Jackie's Warrior , who topped the final day of the OBS October Yearling Sale when selling to Arroyo Bloodstock for $180,000.)
BH: Do you feel lucky that you've done so well in this venture, so quickly?
EA: I don't believe in luck, but I believe it is a blessing. We've had great teachers. We've been very fortunate to learn the right way from the beginning. When it comes to the sales, to combine that with the experience that we have from the racing world and sticking to our teachings, I think that's been the main thing in our success. Dean (DeRenzo) and Randy (Hartley) have taught us some really key things that we feel have played into our success when it comes to looking at a horse and analyzing the horse, as well as the other people I mentioned earlier.
They've all given us little tips that have gone a long way when it comes to purchasing the horses, as well as taking care of them throughout the winter. If it wasn't for their teachings and guidance, maybe we'd be at the same point (as when we started). I think that's a key part to our accelerated success. We just try to keep our heads down and stay humble, because there's so much more to learn.
