Racing's Part-Time Jockey, Jairo Rendon is Making it Work

Jairo Rendon was enjoying one of the best years of his career. He finished the Monmouth meet with 66 winners, just 10 winners behind perennial Monmouth riding champion Paco Lopez. He stuck around a few more days to ride some at the all-turf meet at the Meadowlands, but after riding there Sept. 21, he was ready to go home.

After the short Meadowlands meet ended, Rendon would have no problem heading to Aqueduct or maybe Gulfstream Park, two places where he could make a lot of money and ride a lot of winners.

But Rendon, when he says “it's not about the money,” he means it. That's why every year after the New Jersey racing season is over, Rendon soon heads back to his native country, Colombia. It is there that he and his family own a 210-acre cattle ranch. It's a much different lifestyle than the racetrack, but Rendon has stood firm in his decision not to ride in the U.S. for almost half the year. He'd just rather spend that time with his family.

“The wintertime is coming and if I were to stay in America I'd have to move from Monmouth to another track and start business all over again,” Rendon said. “I have my family here in Colombia, and my house. It's easier to come home rather than going to another track and starting all over and not have my family here. When I go back to Colombia, I see my father, mother, brothers, everybody is there.”

Rendon, 41, began his career in his native country, but there is no longer any racing in Colombia as the track there closed in 2008. Two years earlier, he made the switch to Panama and was leading rider there in 2007. Then it was on to Saudi Arabia, where he spent eight years. In 2016, he came to the U.S. He started off slowly, winning just 12 races the first two years he was here. It all came together for him in 2019, when he won 139 races while riding nearly the entire meet at Gulfstream. Then Covid hit and he rode sparingly in 2020 and took all of 2021 off. He had found out that he could lead two lives, professional jockey and gentlemen rancher.

By 2022, he was making enough riding in the U.S. that he could afford to come home and take half of the year off. In 2022, he stayed until Nov. 13 and didn't leave the country in 2023 until Nov. 5. This year was his earliest exit ever.

He said things would be different if his family members were to agree to stay with him while he is riding in the U.S. He has a 17-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter.

“They never were interested in staying with me in the U.S.,” Rendon said. “They don't want to change their lifestyle. I asked them a few times if they wanted to come over and they said no.”

The time he spends in Colombia is not a vacation. He keeps busy and fit working on the ranch.

“And it's not like I go home to my country and sleep for five months,” he said. “I have things to do there. I work the farm every day I am there. That helps keep me in shape.”

He is considering riding at the Keeneland spring meet next year. Whether he does or not, he'll be ready to go for opening day at Monmouth. About three weeks beforehand, he starts to get racing fit by galloping horses for trainer and friend Jorge Duarte, Jr.

“The thing is that Jairo has built a good relationship with the Monmouth Park horsemen,” said Duarte, who trains exclusively for Colts Neck Stable.

Rendon got off to such a fast start this year, that he topped the standings through the first two weeks of the meet. Was he ready to dethrone Paco?

“Everyone said this year, 'You're going to beat Paco Lopez, you're going to beat Paco Lopez.' I wasn't looking for that,” he said  “I'm looking to win some races, do good. I'm not looking to be the leading rider.”

This probably wouldn't work for many jockeys. Stay away from the track for six months and you're bound to have a tough time getting going again. But trainers have learned to trust him and know he can make this rather odd schedule work.

“They kind of expect what he does now,” Duarte said. “They know he will be back right before Monmouth Park starts and they know he will be ready because of his work ethic. They know horses run for him, too.”