LIFE & TIMES


Maryland Will Miss... Longtime T oroughbred


racehorse trainer and USET Show Jumper Rodney Jen- kins died on December 5. He was 80. Jenkins was born in Middleburg, Vir- ginia, where he grew up in the hunt fi eld as a whipper- in for his father, Enis Jen- kins, who was huntsman for Manly Carter’s private pack and Rapidan Hunt. Jenkins was a Show Jump- ing Hall of Fame rider who retired from showing in 1989 as the sport’s winningest rider. He rep- resented the U.S. on the 1987 Pan American Games team where he won two silver medals. In addition, Jenkins rode on 10 winning Na- tions Cups teams between 1973 and 1987. He won more than 70 Grand Prix competitions during his jumper career and was named the American Grandprix Association’s Rider of the Year and AHSA Horseman of the Year in 1987. He is also an inductee of the National Horse Show Hall of Fame. His most notable show jumper was the Okla-


homa-bred T oroughbred Idle Dice, who won 31 Grand Prix victories including winning the American Gold Cup three times and becoming the only horse to have won the President’s Cup at the Washington International Horse Show twice. With Jenkins in the irons, Idle Dice was name Grand Prix Horse of the Year in 1977, and he represented USET for fi ve years. To- gether they competed in the World Champi- onships in 1974 as well. Idle Dice was among the fi rst group of inductees into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 1987. Jenkins became a licensed T oroughbred race- horse trainer in 1991, starting with steeplechase horses before gradually switching to primarily fl at horses. He won the 2002 Laurel Park sum- mer meet trainer’s title and was named out- standing trainer by the Maryland T oroughbred Horsemen’s Association in 2003. Jenkins trained several stakes winners in-


cluding Maryland-bred Phlash Phelps, who won back-to back Maryland Million Turf races and Maryland-bred Cordmaker, who banked over $1 million in career earnings. Both Phlash Phelps and Cordmaker were owned by longtime client Mrs. Ellen Charles’ Hillwood Stables. Other notable stakes winners include Bandbox and Running Tide.


www.equiery.com | 800-244-9580 Jenkins logged 941 wins from 4,654 starts


during his career as a trainer. His lifetime purse earnings net over $24 million. He retired earlier this year due to deteriorating health.


Author, trainer and riding stable owner Mike


Smith of Silver Spring died on November 24 at the age of 76. Smith was born in Maryland to a military family (US Army). T ey moved to Japan when Smith was fi ve and stayed for fi ve years. On returning to the states they moved to


Odenton. His innate love of horses caused him to gravitate to the stables at Fort Meade. He worked at the stables for free lessons, often sleeping in the barn just to be with them. He eventually took a farrier’s course in Pennsylvania before being drafted to the infantry and sent to fi ght in Vietnam. When Smith returned from the war, he told his military job counselors that he only knew how to work with horses. He succeeded in get- ting permission to use his GI Bill benefi ts to enroll in the prestigious Horsemasters program at Potomac Horse Center, run by Fellow of the British Horse Society Betty Howett. After completing PHC’s instructor’s certifi cation program and receiving a Horse Master’s degree from the British Horse Society, he secured a position at Woodland Horse Center in Spen- cerville and began growing its lesson program. Smith was singularly infl uential in developing


Maryland’s iconic large, public-focused, stables that specialize in teaching group lessons on trained school horses to all levels of riders. Such lesson barns are the incubators of future horse- men and women, and the foundation of Mary- land’s robust horse industry. At one time or another, Smith owned Columbia Horse Center in Columbia, Reddemeade Farm in Ashton, and Woodland, as well as, briefl y, a boarding


Comings & Goings


Brooke Fries has been hired as the new equestrian director of the Show Place Arena at the Prince George’s Equestrian Center. Fries was previously Equestrian Manager at Frying Pan Park in Fairfax County, VA.


Mike Hopkins, who served as the Executive Director of the Maryland Racing Commission since 2002, was recognized by the Maryland racing community during his retirement party at Laurel Park on November 20. Hopkins has worked for MRC since 1984 in various roles, fi rst as deputy to Ken Schertle, who was the Executive Director at the time. Hopkins was presented with proclamations from Harford County, the Maryland House of Representatives, and the Maryland Senate for his contributions to Maryland racing and breeding. Hopkins fi rst became involved with MRC by working at the Pimlico Race Course racing offi ce in 1980 in addition to working at other tracks in various positions. Hopkins offi cially retired on December 31, 2024. As of press, his replacement has yet to be named.


Ken Brown retired as the Maryland Jockey Club’s Track Superintendent on December 1. T e new Superintendent is Danny Finke, who has 40 years of experience as a MJC track crew member.


THE EQUIERY YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION | JANUARY 2025 | 47


of Marylanders


and lesson barn in Bowie. In addition, riders, trainers and instructors who got their start un- der Smith’s tutelage at Woodland went on to found Full Moon Farm in Finksburg, as well as Maple Spring Farm in Glenwood. He devel- oped an extensive instructor training program for the instructors at his riding centers. As a rider, Smith competed through Fourth


Level in dressage and competed at A-circuit hunter and jumper shows. Smith authored Get- ting the Most from Riding Lessons which was published in 1998 by Storey. He was widely recognized and respected as having an unerr- ing eye for picking out sometimes the most un- likely looking prospects and turning them into great lesson horses, many of whom went on to fi nd their forever humans and homes.


US Show Jumping Hall of Fame photo


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