Leonard Powell

Trainer Leonard Powell grew up on his family’s farm in Normandy, France immersed in Thoroughbred racing. He was an amateur jockey in France who also worked for U.S. trainer Richard Mandella and Australian trainer John Hawkes.

Powell moved to Southern California and took out his trainer’s license in 2003. Powell earned his first stakes win when Balustrade won the Hasta La Vista Handicap at Turf Paradise May, 22, 2005 and his first graded stakes win with Niagara Causeway in the Grade 3 Tokyo City Handicap in march 2008. Powell’s first stable star was Soi Phet, who ran third in the 2013 Awesome Again Stakes and then won eight stakes races for the barn from 2014 to 2018 after Powell claimed him for $16,000 in May 2013.

Fatale Bere gave Powell his first Grade 1 win when she won the Del Mar Oaks in August 2018 and his second Grade 1 win came in the same race five years later with Anisette.

Powell and his wife, Mathilde, have three daughters: Louise, Blanche, and Jeanne. Mathilde was co-owner of the aforementioned Soi Phet.