Pennington Wins Ruffian, Earns Jockey of the Week

Jockey Frankie Pennington is usually found riding at Parx but with Saturday a dark day at the Bensalem, PA track, Pennington traveled to the Belmont at the Big A meet and the mount aboard Irish Maxima in the Ruffian Stakes (G2). It was well worth the 90-mile trip. With the graded stakes win, the panel of racing experts unanimously voted Pennington Jockey of the Week for May 4-May 10. As Irish Maxima's regular pilot, Pennington was given a leg up in the Ruffian Stakes (G2) by trainer John Servis. The plan was to use the 5-year-old's natural speed to get to the front and establish a clear lead, get her to relax and have something left at the finish. While the beginning went according to plan, Irish Maxima had her own idea how to run the race. Breaking like a shot from post position six in the field of seven older fillies and mares, she opened up a 2-1/2 length lead, a six-length lead through six furlongs then a seven length lead before beginning to tire down the stretch. The lead was too much for her six rivals to overcome and Irish Maxima won her second graded stakes race by a length in 1:36.51 for one mile. It was Pennington's ninth win with Irish Maxima. "She's got so much speed," said Pennington to Aqueduct publicity. "As soon as she broke from the gate, I tried to grab her pretty quick to get her to relax. As soon as I grabbed her, she was like, 'I'm going to play with you, I'm going to do what I want I want to do.' And she did. I knew they were coming-it was a big group of nice horses-but I know one thing with her, she'll fight it out until the end." The multiple graded stakes winning Pennington, who turns 39 on May 18, is a native of Texas. He was introduced to racing by his step-father, Rodney Faulkner who trains in Ohio. The soft-spoken Pennington began riding in 2003 at Thistledown where he won his first career race on September 23, 2003. He moved his tack to Philadelphia Park (now Parx) in 2004 where he has become a fan favorite and won multiple leading rider titles. He recorded his 2,000th career win at Parx on July 10, 2016 and his 3,000th career win riding for John Servis on October 31, 2023 also at Parx. On March 31, 2025, Pennington was credited with helping to avoid a catastrophic on-track accident during the eighth race at Parx when Sir Rob Roy unseated jockey Jackie Davis and began running in the wrong direction. Pennington, who was on the lead, was the first to see the loose horse and the outriders and thinking quickly, instructed nearby riders to pull up preventing serious injuries in a very dangerous situation. Pennington is riding at Parx this week before another trip on Saturday to Belmont at the Big A and a mount for John Servis. Other nominees for Jockey of the Week included Juan Hernandez who won the Senorita (G3) at Santa Anita, Flavien Prat who won the Peter Pan (G3) at Belmont at the Big A, Ricardo Santana, Jr. who won the John A. Nerud (G3) at Belmont at the Big A and John Velazquez who won the William Walker at Churchill Downs.