Born on January 26, 1995 in Swindon, Wiltshire, Brendan Powell is the son of the Grand National-winning jockey of the same name. In his early teens, he spent two summers with his godfather, Adrian Maguire, in Lombardstown, County Cork, where he competed in pony racing at weekends. He described pony racing as “great preparation” for his future career and duly rode his first winner, Home, trained by his father, in an amateur riders’ handicap on the Flat at Southwell on February 8, 2011.
Initially apprenticed to Jonjo O’Neill and subsequently to the late John Hills, Powell rode a handful of winners on the Flat but, unwilling to ride out his claim in that sphere, embarked on a National Hunt career, as conditional jockey to Colin Tizzard in Milborne Port, Dorset. His career took off quickly, too; on December 19, 2011, while still only 16, he made headlines when riding a 40/1 treble at Plumpton on Dark And Dangerous, trained by his father, and Ohio Gold and Drawn Free, both trained by Tizzard. Joe Tizzard, who would take over the licence at Venn Farm following the retirement of his father in 2022, described Powell as “the best 7lb claimer around at the moment.”
Powell was still only 17 and claiming 3lb when he rode his first Cheltenham Festival winner, Golden Chieftain, trained by Tizzard, in the JLT Specialty Handicap Chase on March 12, 2013. The following season, 2013/14, he rode a then career-best 44 winners, riding out his claim in the process. As a fully-fledged professional, Powell rode 38 winners in 2014/15, 35 in 2015/16 and 29 in 2016/17, but his seasonal tally continued to fall, down to 14 winners in 2017/18 and just nine in 2018/19. Reflecting on his dry spell, he said later, “…a few things weren’t going right for me and I didn’t win on a few horses who I probably should have done. I probably wasn’t mature enough to deal with those days the way I should have done.”
On March 10, 2020, Powell rode his second Cheltenham Festival winner, The Conditional, trained by David Bridgwater, in the Ultima Handicap Chase. Thereafter, as stable jockey to Colin Tizzard, his career took off again and in 2021/22 he rode 65 winners, his highest seasonal tally so far. Fast forward to July 25, 2025 and Powell reached the milestone of 500 career winners on Eightytwo Team, trained by Clare Ellam, in a handicap chase at Uttoxeter. He said,”I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but I knew.”