INTEGRITY GROUP IS MINORITY PARTNER IN SUCH HORSES AS KINGS RIVER KNIGHT
Leonard Miranda is part owner of 5-year-old Diamond Bar Gal, “a cool horse,” he says
Leonard Miranda, the effusive founder of the Integrity Thoroughbred Racing partnership, isn’t exactly the sort of person you’d expect to find in horse racing ownership.
A nearly 30-year law enforcement veteran with the Chula Vista Police Department in San Diego County, Miranda had worked his way up the ranks to become a SWAT commander and a narcotics division supervisor. Thanks to California’s pension program, he was able to retire as a captain in 2010, even though he didn’t really want to.
“I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands,” said Miranda, now 64, whose group is a minority owner of California-bred champion and turf star Kings River Knight. “It got me thinking about horses again.”
When he was a youngster, Miranda enjoyed going to the races with his father.
“I didn’t come from money,” he said. “I grew up in Pico Rivera, and we didn’t have much. But I remember my dad taking me by the arm and saying, ‘Let’s go to the races.’
“I didn’t know anything about racing or betting. What I remember most about it from that time were the horses. Whenever I could raise enough money, I loved to go horseback riding.”
As a young man, he began his police career, married wife Terri, and started a family. Though he still followed racing, Miranda didn’t go to the track anymore. He was wrapped up in other pursuits while rearing three children.
His time in narcotics investigation included some major drug and kidnapping cases against Mexican cartels that had moved into San Diego. Leaving that kind of life behind and retiring to his home in Imperial Beach wasn’t an easy transition, he admitted.
“I really needed a little more of an adrenalin hit,” Miranda said. “I knew I didn’t have the money to be an owner on my own, but I wanted to know more. I attended one of those TOC (Thoroughbred Owners of California) ownership seminars and that got me thinking.
“That started five years of due diligence for me,” Miranda added. “I wanted to learn everything I could about horse racing.”
He speaks Spanish fluently, which helped him on the backstretch while talking to grooms and hotwalkers, and he also tapped trainers for advice. He spent time with horse owners and in track executive suites, in the racing office, and even in the paymaster’s department. Over time, with the help of the TOC and its director of operations at the time, Mary Forney, Miranda said he developed a business plan.
“I didn’t know anyone in the industry when I started, but the people I met were very gracious,” Miranda said. “I loved the community of horse racing, the ecosystem. I got the sense that there are many good people there.”
What he came up with was Integrity.
We are in it for the fun. We all have a great time together. We’ve kept the same group together over the years. We show up and enjoy the races, pay our bills, and wait. We don’t get out over our skis.”
“We are not a syndicate—anything but that,” he said. “There are seven core members in Integrity Thoroughbreds,” explained Miranda, who is the group’s point man. “We don’t want any more than that. We aren’t in it for the money. We are in it for the fun. We all have a great time together. We’ve kept the same group together over the years. We show up and enjoy the races, pay our bills, and wait. We don’t get out over our skis.”
He said he named the partnership Integrity as a nod to his former occupation “and it’s a high mark to shoot for—it’s almost like a mission statement.”
The group currently has 10 horses in active training. Integrity is a minority partner in all of its transactions.
Miranda and Michael Salley (seated right) celebrate Kings River Knight’s championship with (from left) Judy Johnston, Mike Walsh, Linda Barrett, Dr. Antje Hinz, and Mimi Hilvers
Its most successful venture easily has been Kings River Knight, a 7-year-old Acclamation gelding bred by the Johnston family’s Old English Rancho and trained by John Sadler. The smooth-striding bay, out of the Poteen mare Seasontoperfection, has won 11 of 18 starts—including seven stakes—with five seconds, earning $710,330. He was named the champion Cal-bred turf horse of 2024.
Miranda said he first noticed Kings River Knight when he won an allowance race at Del Mar in his third start in September 2022. He approached his trainer at the time, Andy Mathis, about possibly buying a share.
“I knew of Old English Rancho and its history, but not as a partner,” Miranda recalled. “I met Judy (Johnston) and was taken by the kind of passion she has for winning, even after all these years in racing. I told them if you have room, I’d like to buy in.”
A short while later, Integrity was accepted.
“Well, it’s been wonderful,” Miranda said. “I know there’s a lot of people that have been in racing forever and have not had a horse that wins like he does. I’m thrilled to have him, to be a part of this group.”
Integrity also partners with the Ellwood Johnston Trust and others in Diamond Bar Gal. She’s a 5-year-old Old English Rancho-bred daughter of Vronsky who has won three of nine lifetime starts with earnings of $135,490.
Henry Adams, an Irish group stakes winner for trainer Aidan O’Brien, is a horse that Miranda anticipates seeing this summer. Mike Scully’s Eclipse Thoroughbred Farm purchased the 4-year-old Irish-bred son of No Nay Never as a stallion prospect and has partnered with Integrity, Miranda said. The plan is to give Henry Adams, now in the barn of Richard Baltas, a start toward the end of the Del Mar meet.
That’s something new for Integrity as it dabbles in breeding and sales. They are partners on eight broodmares in Kentucky, Miranda said, and they have an interest in two more that are in California with Scully.
Miranda is sharing his experience with others. Because he wants to educate potential new owners on all aspects of the sport, he often invites an outside partner in on a horse.
“They learn how tough (ownership) can be,” he said, “and if they ultimately run for the hills, that’s good.”