Famed equestrian and longtime thoroughbred trainer Rodney Jenkins was honored by the Maryland racing community Tuesday in a memorial service at Laurel Park.

Jenkins, a beloved horseman, died Dec. 5 at age 80.

“He taught me a lot on how to ride,” said jockey Richard Monterrey. “Monterrey, you’re riding too low, too high. Monterrey, put your hands down, relax, let the horse stride. He was very aware of everything that was happening. I called him Mr. Jenkins at first, and then I changed it to Papa Jenkins. I had a daughter that went to the barn a couple of times, and she fell in love with this loving man and started calling him Papa Jenkins.”

Born in Middleburg, Va., Jenkins retired from the American show ring as the sport’s winningest rider and was inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 1999.

Known as the “Red Rider” for the shocks of red hair that showed from beneath his helmet, Jenkins competed on 10 winning Nations Cups teams between 1973 and 1987 and earned two silver medals in the 1987 Pan American Games as a member of the U.S. Equestrian Team.

Jenkins notched over 70 grand prix victories, 30 aboard the legendary Idle Dice. He was named the American Grandprix Association’s Rider of the Year and received the AHSA Horseman of the Year award in 1987.

“I was a youngster growing up in the horse show world when he was in his heyday,” reminisced Cricket Goodall, Executive Director of the Maryland Horse Breeders’ Association and Maryland Million, Ltd. “He was a rockstar to us. A lot of little girls were in love with Rodney Jenkins. We owe him a gratitude. Thoroughbred horses were king when he was showing them. Rodney showed how adaptable they were and how much you could do with a Thoroughbred.”

Jenkins began training Thoroughbreds in 1991, gradually transitioning from steeplechasers to flat horses.

“Rodney always said that he wanted to stop showing at the pinnacle of his career,” said longtime assistant Eveline Kjelstrup. “He didn’t want to be one of those older show jumpers that hang on. When he said the jumps started looking a little big to him, we switched to steeplechase horses.”

Jenkins captured the 2002 Laurel summer meet title, was named outstanding trainer by the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association in 2003, and finished in the top 100 nationally in wins three times.

“He loved being at the racetrack,” Kjelstrup said, “When we got to Pimlico, he really enjoyed how welcoming everybody was. He loved hanging out with Dickie Small. They were both sitting on the ponies at the wire and watching the horses go around.”

Jenkins conditioned some of Maryland’s most popular performers. Phlash Phelps won back-to-back editions of the Maryland Million Turf. Millionaire Cordmaker scored 14 of 39 starts, including the Grade 3 General George Stakes in 2022. Both Phlash Phelps and Cordmaker were owned by Mrs. Ellen Charles’s Hillwood Stables, one of Jenkins’s longtime clients.

“Rodney was my first trainer,” said Charles. “We had a wonderful journey together and such great success. Over the years, because of Rodney, he built a wonderful stable for me.”

Jenkins was particularly proud of Cordmaker. “He’s a good, good horse, and he tries hard,” he told Daily Racing Form after Cordmaker won the Robert T. Manfuso Stakes in 2021. “He has these mannerisms where he gets very good when something competes with him. I usually wait until three or four weeks out before I ask him for any speed. I jog him, I gallop out, and knock-on wood, he’s never taken a lame step.”

Running Tide, Bandbox, Golden Years, and Shimmering Aspen were among the stakes winners trained by Jenkins, who recorded 941 wins from 4,654 starts with lifetime purse earnings of $24,846,222. His best season came in 2007, winning 74 races for earnings of $1,815,029.

Jenkins suffered from deteriorating health and quietly retired earlier this year. His final winner was Lilly Lightning, who prevailed in a claiming race at Laurel on April 19.

“I thought he was a great ambassador for the sport,” longtime friend and fellow trainer Curtis Beale Payne told Daily Racing Form last month. “Kind-hearted. I go back to the show-horse days with him. He had always owned racehorses throughout the years, even when he was showing. He’d leave the Upperville Horse Show and go over to Charles Town to watch a horse run at the end of a long day. One of Rodney’s big things is feel things, anticipate, communicate with your horse, don’t boss it.”

Phoebe Hayes, Director of Horsemen’s Relations for The Maryland Jockey Club, remembered Jenkins as a consummate horseman. “I saw him get on horses with floppy legs and doing all kinds of crazy things. No whip, no spurs; he’d have that horse tucked up within half an hour. He worked on balance and smoothness with the horses.”

Jenkins didn’t mind giving his horses long breaks when they needed them. “That’s the way I train,” he said. “If a horse gives you a lot of effort, you give him something back.”

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