by Charlene Sharpe, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Charlene Sharpe

Seaford, DE — Unlike most of the young boys growing up in the harness racing industry, Logan Powell never wanted to be a driver. As a child, he knew he liked working with horses but never envisioned himself in the driver’s seat.

That all changed when he went his first training mile. It wasn’t the speed or the adrenaline rush that got him hooked though — it was the challenge of working with the horse.

“I like that it’s a team effort,” Powell, 17, said. “You have to work with the horse. He can’t do it all, you have to help him. I can’t do it all, he has to help me.”

Powell’s approach to driving appears to be paying off. In his second season of driving in Ohio’s fairs, his UDR sits at .815. From six starts so far this summer, he’s won four and had one second and one third. The Felton, Del., native — who will be a senior in high school this fall — is spending the summer in Ohio working for trainer Clarence Foulk.

Photo courtesy of Logan Powell

Logan Powell has posted 11 victories in just 19 career starts.

“We have six horses out here,” Powell said. “We’re racing three stakes fillies at the fairs.”

Powell grew up watching his father, Sheldon, train horses for Foulk’s son and daughter-in-law, Chad and Trish, in Delaware. Though he helped out in the barn as soon as he was old enough, it was only about two years ago that he developed an interest in training and driving. That first training mile, paired with some encouragement from driver Chris Page during the winter he spent in Delaware, was enough to set Powell on the path to becoming a driver.

“When Chris Page came out I trained horses with him,” Powell said. “He kind of talked me into it.”

When Powell realized he wanted to sit in the sulky, he turned to the professionals. He studied drivers at his home tracks of Dover Downs and Harrington Raceway but also looked further.

“I started paying more attention to what the top drivers were doing at the Meadowlands,” he said.

In 2014, his first year of fair driving, Powell’s mounts earned $6,265, racking up a record of seven wins and two seconds from 13 starts.

Photo courtesy of Jack Remy

A young Logan Powell joins Jeff Remy in the winner’s circle at Dover Downs in 2002.

After a number of qualifying starts at Rosecroft Raceway this spring, when the school year ended Powell headed back to Ohio for the 2015 season. He made his first start a winning one, steering 3-year-old pacing filly A Lucky Feeling to a 3-1/2 length victory in the first race of the day June 21 at the Circleville Fair.

It was a particularly meaningful win for Powell. Though he and the Foulks weren’t aware of it ahead of time, the race was named in honor of longtime friend and horseman Jeff Remy. Remy, who passed away last year, accompanied the Foulks when they first moved east to Delaware. That’s where he first got to know Powell.

“I spent a lot of time with him,” Powell said. “It was pretty cool to win the race.”

He plans to spend the rest of the summer gaining experience as a driver at the fairs. Though he’s beginning to see the harder parts of driving, especially the pressure that comes from driving other people’s horses, Powell is confident he’ll be making a living in the industry in the future.