Angel Penna, Sr.

Who was Angel Penna, Sr.?

Angel A. Penna, Sr. was an Argentine-born U. S. Racing Hall of Fame Thoroughbred horse trainer. Penna was an international trainer who worked and raced on three continents. He conditioned more than 250 graded stakes race winners during a career that began in 1950 and lasted for more than forty years.

Born in Buenos Aires to a racing family, Angel Penna's father, father-in-law, and an uncle were all horse trainers. Angel Penna worked as an assistant to his father until going out on his own in 1942.

He won leading trainer honors in his native Argentina in 1952 and in Venezuela in 1954 then began competing in the United States. After moving permanently to the U.S. in 1961 he raced at tracks from coast to coast and was notably successful with Harry F. Guggenheim's colt, Bold Reason. In 1972, Angel Penna went to France where he would become a major figure in European Thoroughbred racing.

Penna won the 1972 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe with the filly San San. Hired by leading French horseman Daniel Wildenstein, Penna won his second Arc in 1974 with the future Hall of Fame filly Allez France and earned French Leading Trainer honors that year.