Brendan Powell

Originally posted by Dante@May 18 2007, 08:51 AM
How much does he charge Kathy and is he good value for money? One of my favourite jockeys and underrated was Brendan.
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Dante, I think he charges "about" £200-£250 a week, but I think any female under 30 years old and blonde may well get a discount. :dork:
Obviously, he charges me double. :(

Dante, I wouldn't have stayed attached to his yard if I didn't think he was value for money, a good trainer, a great jockey and a thoroughly all round nice bloke.

You will struggle to find many people in racing as well liked and respected as he is in my very humble and totally biased opinion.
 
:laughing: :laughing: That's a very reasonable rate, I reckon, Kathy. I thought fees were around £1200-£1500 a month these days, so he's not at all out of line there. I would always like a trainer who could ride still, or who has ridden, over one who hasn't, since they don't have to rely on their own riders telling them how a horse has gone. They know very well how it goes, if they've given it a spin at home for themselves. I realise that weight mitigates against a lot of them managing this, and increasing age, but if they've ridden in the past, it has to be a huge bonus in understanding why a horse should be ridden a certain way.

Shadow! I was making it all up! I've read the odd woman's magazine, y'know - along with Knitters' Weekly and Marmalade Times...
 
Ah, right-o....I can just see you discreetly slipping a copy of Cosmo inbetween your copies of Gardeners Weekly & Saga Magazine at WHsmiths....:D
 
Morestead was not the best training facility when he first moved in although he was done so much work on it. I am not 100% sure what he charges to be honest although his competitive rate about 3 years ago was one of the reasons I went to look at his yard in the first place.

Brendan still rides out and schools - I was watching him last Saturday morning. His 11 year old (or is he 10?) son was riding out for him too, and I don't mean he was playing be a jockey riding his pony. He rides the racehorses and he loves it.

I went up to watch 2nd lot with Brendan Jnr who took me up in the golf buggy.... just as well I hadn't eaten my breakfast. Even Barney tried to bail out at one stage! Have you ever seen a golf buggy drivingup the gallops on 2 wheels? :what:
 
Originally posted by Kathy@May 17 2007, 05:13 PM

Lots of excuses to come and meet Headstrong down the Lambourn local, although if she's looking for juicy gossip about Brendan, it won't be coming from me. I've already warned him about you, HS :P
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Hor hor Kathy very droll! - Tho as you know it, but others don't, I'd better make it clear I don't disseminate Lambourn gossip in the Forum - tho I might to a few chosen freinds at the races :P On the other hand I've just realised you might be warning him about me for quite different reasons :brows: :shy: :rolleyes:

Brian Meehan did very well out of the yard, which is in a very good situation for getting to the main gallops etc etc. It's main problem has always been the lack of staff accomodation, and it will be tough for staff who come with him as any kind of lodgings in Lambourn cost a Queen's ransom these days
 
The move to Lambourn seems to be paying dividends already. Lot's of exciting things happening in the background already and he hasn't even moved yet. :clap: There were only a couple of owners Brendan couldn't get hold of who didn't know of the move, when you have so many owners and syndicates and people who live abroad it's hardly surprising. On top of that he has new owners on board and some new horses due to arrive very soon.

For anyone who didn't see the article in The Telegraph, here it is.

Powell's arrival will be boost for Lambourn
By Marcus Armytage
Last Updated: 1:29am BST 15/05/2007

Brendan Powell, one of the up-and-coming stars of the training ranks, is to move to Lambourn in July. The trainer will rent Newlands, the yard formerly occupied -and still owned - by Brian Meehan, when the lease on his current base at Twyford, near Winchester, runs out.

After a period when the most significant moves in Lambourn were departures as opposed to arrivals, the news will be seen as a significant boost for the village, especially by the Jockey Club, who recently bought the gallops and have invested heavily in the place.

Powell, who has sent out 250 winners in seven years at Twyford, said yesterday: "I've been trying to buy my own place for a year and a half. But everywhere I've looked at has had a house worth £1.5 million attached, so I plan to buy some land and build.

"It will be a wrench to leave here but I'd have to sign a five-year lease and put in considerable amount of investment in the buildings and gallops, while at Brian's, I can have the yard for two years while I build my own."

He added: "It's nothing to do with size. While we may have 90 horses on the books because I have jumpers, Flat horses and all-weather runners, I probably have no more than 55 in the yard at any one time and I don't intend to get any bigger.

"I used to ride work for Brian so I know the gallops, and all my owners have said they'll come with me. There are a lot more facilities in Lambourn."

Powell, 46, who rode 648 winners, including the 1988 Grand National winner Rhyme 'N' Reason, now trains horses for Britain's two highest-profile jumping owners, J P McManus and David Johnson. McManus's Money Order looks a promising chaser for next year and the trainer will also have Colonel Frank back in training after an absence through injury.
 
Originally posted by Diminuendo@May 17 2007, 05:13 PM
Whatever yard he's moving to and for whatever reason , I wish him the best of luck with the move. It will be great to have Brendan Powell on the list of stables to visit come next Lambourn Open Day!!
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Diminuendo, I will make sure you and Muttley will be on the guest list for the Open Day again - don't forget to bring your camera! :D

By the way, there is a horse that Brendan only started training recently called CAPE GREKO. He is a stunning looking and very talented horse who has had a few problems. He has his first run for Brendan (weather/going permitting) at Leicester on Tuesday. Brendan can very often breathe new life into horses that have run badly for other trainers, so I really hope this happens in this case too. This horse so deserves to get his head in front again.
 
Not sure, Krizon. I am assuming it would be in September as per all his previous Open Days.
 
Please cross your fingers for Cape Greko tonight in the 7.30pm at Leicester. I so want him to run a big race this evening as the owner adores this horse and Brendan thinks he has talent - the horse that is, not the owner.:D It's a new distance, Cape needs good to firm ground and it's a new course, and a new trainer plus all the head gear will not be used - which may explain the big prices.

Go on, Cape! :clap: Just a good run would suffice tonight although a place would be better.

The owner's are having a party at Leicester racecourse today, and they are taking their new Grand Daughter who is only a few weeks old.
 
How come Cape Greko hasnt run yet for Brendan Kathy? I thought he was about when your horse got injured? Hope CG runs well tonight.

Come to think of it - how is BH??? Hope that legs getting better - you must be dying to get him back into work?
 
Trudi, Cape Greko only went to Brendan's about 3 weeks ago from Andrew Baldings. I have talked about Cape for ages as he was at livery down the road from me for a while due to some problems he had.

Bay Hawk is doing absolutely fine and should be back on the course (God willing) at the end of the year. Thanks for asking. :)
 
Not ideal, as being up with the pace a bit more may have helped with the extra distance as Cape doesn't have a turn of foot to make up stacks of ground espeically with a wall of horses in front of him. Bang went my £2 e/w! :suspect:
 
He pulled very hard for the first half of the race Kathy and looked to burn himself out.
 
:what:

He did phone and ask if I had any room left on my credit card earlier. :eek:

Nah, not one for me as far as I know.
 
Originally posted by Kathy@May 17 2007, 07:48 PM
Martin, you will find that many trainers have to move yards for various reasons ie being thrown out of yards for not paying the rent, moving to smaller or bigger premises.

I don't think Brendan Powell is the only trainer who has had to move yards to find bigger premises and don't worry, I am sure the staff will have been consulted.

Brendan's new yard in Lambourn is about an hour and a quarter from Lambourn basically straight up the A34 past Newbury. No, it may not be ideal for everyone but when you move any business, there is always a percentage of employees where a change (any change) may not be ideal for their own personal circumstances.
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The big move is looming now. Letters have hopefully all gone out to all the owners, so I can now put it up on his website.

Brendan will be looking for a couple of new staff and an advert was placed in The Racing Post on Saturday as it was a day that thousands of people would have brought the paper due to The Derby so masses of coverage. I know he has already had a lot of enquiries.

I was in Lambourn on Saturday and I can't help but thinking this could be a great move for Brendan as so often a move to a new area is not always a positive one. I hope this one is.

I will of course keep you posted.
 
By the way Krizon, (a question you asked a few weeks back) Brendan's training fees are to remain the same apart from an additional monthly gallop fee of £75.00 - payable via Weatherbys accounts. This is great news for owners as the facilities will be better and it means Brendan doesn't have to travel his horses to racecourses etc to gallop then as he had done previously.

There will clearly be a little disruption over the next few weeks and as some of his horses are not firing as well as they could be, perhaps they sense that a change is in the air and it has unsettled them slightly?
 
Some take change much better than others, just like humans. Those who require a set routine in order to feel settled and calm won't like all the clanging, banging, and shouting around the yard which will go on as boxes come in to take their chums away, and they may miss their neighbours who've gone on ahead. Some will be fascinated and wonder what's going on, but they'll all note a change in the routine and the extra buzz around them. One or two might even decide to get colic when they get to their new home, just to prove they were disturbed by the event! Most, hopefully, will feel refreshed and very interested in their new surroundings - new sights, new horizons (literally), new smells, and a new work routine with the gallops being close to hand. :)
 
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