Famed equestrian and longtime thoroughbred trainer Rodney Jenkins died in his sleep Thursday, Dec. 5, at age 80. 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. He rode 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 more than 70 grand prix victories and was named the American Grandprix Association’s Rider of the Year and AHSA Horseman of the Year award in 1987. Jenkins began training Thoroughbreds in 1991, gradually transitioning from steeplechasers to flat horses. He 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. Born in Middleburg, Va., Jenkins trained some of Maryland’s most popular horses. 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. “He’s a good, good horse and he tries hard,” Jenkins 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.” Willa On the Move (the foal of 1999), 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 won a claiming race at Laurel on April 19. “I thought he was a great ambassador for the sport,” said friend and fellow trainer Curtis Beale Payne. “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.” Jenkins didn’t mind giving his horses long breaks when he felt 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.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.