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Winning Post Few people in racing are more popular than
the Lambourn-based Irishman Brendan Powell.
The Co. Kildare-born trainer has just moved to the heart of horseracing
country in Lambourn where he trains 80 horses including two each for the
top owners in Britain David Johnson and JP McManus.
He has made a flying start to
life at his new home in Lambourn with five winners from his last 12 runners.
It has been a rapid rise to the top of the training ladder for Powell,
once a leading jump jockey in Britain. He won the 1988 Grand National
on Rhyme And Reason as well as almost 700 other winners in a top-class
career as a jockey.
He also won the Scottish National on two occasions, the Welsh National
and the Mackesen Gold Cup among a host of top races.
A bad injury forced him to retire from the saddle in 1999. Having been
in racing all of his life his father was a jockey and horse breeder
and Brendan was riding in point-to-point races as a 14-year-old
it surprised no-one when he set-up as a trainer with just seven horses
and a rented yard.
Since then a steady supply of winners has helped 47-year-old Brendan climb
up the training ranks.
But while he has shown himself to be a trainer capable of producing winners
on the flat as well as over hurdles and fences he has never won a truly
big race as a trainer.
But the genial Brendan believes that this could end this year. He
has two horses Colonel Frank and Tora Bora who could help
fill-up the trophy cabinet at his new home in Lambourn.
Tora Bora won five races as a novice hurdler last season and is likely
to pick up many more races this year.
Colonel Frank is a top-class chaser who has been hampered by injury problems
in recent seasons but if he can return to the form he showed two seasons
ago then Colonel Frank is definitely a horse to side with in the coming
season.
Powell is one of the most straightforward trainers you could hope to deal
with. He always gives an honest opinion about the chances of his horses,
treats his staff well and is one of the hardest working people in racing.
That’s why if the big race success which Brendan craves comes his
way this season then few racing fans, on either side of the Irish Sea,
will begrudge him his success.
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