Frankie Pennington, Mac’s jockey at Parx, is a native of Big Spring, Texas who has established himself as one of the leading riders in Pennsylvania. Pennington is currently 5th in the jockey standings at Parx and is a multiple-graded stakes winner.

After Pennington’s stepfather and trainer, Rodney Faulkner, got him into horses all he wanted to do is be around horses all day.  Rodney Faulkner taught Pennington to ride by having him gallop babies and horses around the cotton field. This was when his career path started to become very clear.

When Faulkner relocated to train in Ohio, Frankie followed him, and in 2003 he started riding at Thistledown. Pennington was so into horses that his mom, now married to Faulkner, homeschooled him so he could stay with the horses. He had 10 horses to groom and exercise. Pennington’s first win of his career was on a horse by the name of Confused Genius, and now with over 2,500 wins under his belt, the love of the sport has never waned.

After years of riding and many wins, there’s one horse that still remains Pennington’s favorite – the filly, Miss Blue Tye Dye. Pennington rode her early in his career and won everywhere. Miss Blue Tye Dye’s earnings topped $500,000 and included multiple Graded Stakes.

He can thank his love of horses and his career for introducing him to his wife Jennifer when she was also a jockey. It was through Jennifer that I found Mac.

Frankie is personable and friendly to his fans, always stopping for a quick word and a photo or autograph at Parx. Frankie is aware that fans are what make the sport and he aims to please them. 

One thing that stands about Pennington is his love of the horses he has piloted. When a horse that carried Frankie to his 2000th win showed up in a kill pen, Frankie and his wife stepped up to give Now We Are free the soft lending he deserved. Even though Frankie and his wife knew Now We Are Free would never be a riding horse or have a fairy tale show horse ending.

Mac was extremely lucky to have Frankie’s boots in the irons as he navigated his short race career. When asked, Frankie remembers as Mac a very good-looking stud colt who was always very well behaved in the post parade but (fortunately for me!) he really did not want to be a racehorse.

You could call it a coincidence but Frankie’s race colors are green, white, and yellow. These colors were my dad’s farm colors and my eventing colors. I even had a browband made for Mac in these colors shortly after I purchased him.