Sophie took out her license in 2007 and after a spell training in Oxfordshire and Devon settled in a purpose built training yard in the heart of the Forest of Dean.
After having achieved a BA (Hons) in Equine Studies she took a marketing role at Warwick Racecourse where she met Christian. She then went on to train point to pointers while Christian took on the role of BHA Handicapper, a role which has proved invaluable when moving into the training ranks.
We now run a small, but successful family dual purpose yard. With just 30 boxes we pride ourselves on being able to afford the attention to detail larger yards cannot. We try to focus on quality rather than quantity and are never afraid to show ambition with our runners.
After a successful 2019 with runners in France, 2020 has seen us set up a satellite yard in Chantilly for the summer. Our French raids have now become a staple of what we do and we would have an even spread of runners between the UK and France. We feel this allows us to offer our owners something very few people do and our vast experience in understanding the French systems and program book really gives us an edge when planning these trips.
We have broodmares on site for both codes and really enjoy bringing through our youngstock and seeing how they develop on the track. But equally we pride ourselves on being able to keep our older horses going successfully.
Our main focus is trying to get the best return we can for our owners. Our journey to achieve this has led us to some fantastic days racing in the UK, across the Irish sea to Punchestown, Fairyhouse and Galway as well as various courses across the channel including Auteuil, Clairefontaine and Compiegne.
Meet the team
Sophie Leech – Trainer
Christian Leech – Assistant
Sophie and Christian are both proactive on the yard and both ride out. Christian’s main focus is race planning, while Sophie takes on a very hands on role with the horses and their training and wellbeing.
Roisin Leech – Amateur Jockey
Roisin has grown up around horses and ridden from an early age. She has had a successful career pony racing and we are really looking forward to her progressing through the ranks as a jockey.
Katie Stubbs – Head Girl
Katie has joined us as Head Girl and brings a wealth of experience having previously worked at Jonjo O’Neils.
Gabby Morgan
Gabby has owned and worked with horses all her life. She is our longest serving employee and brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm.
Lauren Lucas – Traveling Head Girl
Lauren works full time on the yard and is an experienced work rider. She has a lot of experience of taking horses racing and is in charge of all the travelling with the horses in both the UK and France.
Leech Jockeys
We also have a great team of jockeys that we use regularly including Paddy Brennan, Adrian Heskin, Ciaran Gethings, Sean Houlihan, Conor Brace and Harry Reed. Aswell as James Revely, Bertrand Lestrade and Felix de Giles in France.
