Master Horseman Jenkins Dies at 80

Longtime Maryland horseman Rodney Jenkins, who successfully transitioned from a Hall of Fame show career to a Thoroughbred trainer of such horses as millionaire Cordmaker  and fellow graded stakes winners Bandbox  and Running Tide, died the evening of Dec. 5 at the age of 80.

Jenkins' last starter, 3-year-old gelding The Band Runs On , finished fourth in Star de Naskra Stakes June 29 at Laurel Park. His last winner came with 3-year-old filly Lilly Lightning  April 19 at Laurel. Both horses were bred in Maryland and owned by Ellen Charles of Hillwood Stable.

"We had a wonderful time together," Charles said. "I learned a lot from Rodney. Even though I had grown up around horses, I hadn't grown up as far as breeding them and going to sales and things like that. He was a really fun person to be with. It was great, great experience."

Born in Middleburg, Va., in 1944, Jenkins was the son of famous horseman and huntsman Enis Jenkins. Nicknamed "the Red Rider" because of his bright red hair, he dominated the American show ring over parts of three decades, retiring in 1989 as the sport's winningest rider. Jenkins is credited with a remarkable 70 wins at the Grand Prix level.

At the age of 43, Jenkins enjoyed the best season of his career and was named the 1987 American Grandprix Association's Rider of the Year, American Horse Show Association's Horseman of the Year, and the first Chronicle of the Horse Horseman of the Year. That year he also took home two silver medals at the 1987 Pan American Games as a member of the United States Equestrian Team. Jenkins was inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 1999.

"I grew up under him going back to the show horse days. Basically, all my life I've known his family," Jenkins' best friend and fellow trainer Curtis Beale "Woody" Payne said. "He had a natural relationship with horses. It was instinct. The whole family has it. He was very modest for all the success he had, and he was a very caring and giving person, as well. Just all the kind acts and attitudes over a lifetime is remarkable."

A champion of the Thoroughbred breed, Rodney's most famous mount in the ring was the ex-racehorse Idle Dice.

"I was very fortunate; I had a lot of great horses and great owners," Jenkins told Ann Jamieson in a 2019 article from The Plaid Horse. "You're no better than what you ride. They do the work and we take the credit, right?

"I had Idle Dice from about 5 to 18. I had horses that I showed that I was closer to as a horse but there was nothing like the power and determination of that horse."

During his show jumping career, Idle Dice recorded 31 Grand Prix victories, many of them with Jenkins aboard, and bankrolled more than $400,000 (the equivalent today of about $1.7 million). The gelding became one of the first inductees into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 1987.

After first starting out training steeplechase horses, Jenkins made the switch to Thoroughbreds in 1991 and won 941 races and $24.84 million in purse earnings from 4,654 starters. His best horse was Hillwood's Cordmaker, who was retired in 2023 at the age of 8 after winning 14 of 39 races and $1,004,380 in purses.

Cordmaker won 11 stakes highlighted by the 2022 General George Stakes (G3) at Laurel, a race Jenkins and Charles first won with Bandbox in 2014. Other horses Jenkins campaigned for Hillwood include 2015 Maryland turf champion Phlash Phelps ; Shimmering Aspen , a three-time stakes winner of $415,660; and Malibu Kid, placed in five stakes including the 2009 General George Handicap.

"(Jenkins) was very special. Look at the horses he picked out for me. Bandbox and my millionaire, Cordmaker, and my nice turf horse, Phlash. We just had a lot of nice horses in the barn. It was fun," Charles said. "He was a good picker of horses. It's sad when those relationships have to end."

Charles' current stable star is Post Time , a two-time graded stakes winner that has placed in three grade 1 stakes including the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) Nov. 2. He is entered in the Dec.7 Cigar Mile Handicap (G2) at Aqueduct Racetrack.

"I probably wouldn't have had Post Time if I hadn't looked at horses with him," Charles said. "I was very fond of him. It's sad, very sad, but time goes on."

Trainer Hamilton Smith, 79, knew Jenkins for decades from their time on the Laurel backstretch. Over a five-year span between 2014 and 2018, Smith and Jenkins won the Maryland Million Turf Stakes twice each—Smith with Talk Show Man (2014, 2018) and Jenkins with Phlash Phelps (2015-16).

"He'd beat me and then I'd beat him and it went back and forth. It was always Phlash Phleps and Talk Show Man. It was a pretty good rivalry there," Smith said. "Rodney was top shelf, no doubt about that. I don't see where anybody could fault him for what he did as a competitor in the show ring that carried right over to training horses. He was just a first-class guy."

Jenkins' other graded stakes win came with On The Run Farm's Running Tide in the 2002 Leonard Richards Stakes (G3) at Delaware Park. Other top horses he trained were Willa On the Move, winner of Laurel's 2002 Politely Stakes and runner-up in the 2002 Acorn (G1) and Miss Preakness (G3) stakes.

"I've actually known him for quite a while, back when his brother had consignments selling yearlings and stuff. He always helped him out, and I'd talk to him all the time," Smith said. "He's just been a friendly soul all his life. I never heard him cuss or get mad or anything like that. He was always kind of low-key, just a very friendly and smart guy. And, a hell of a horseman."

Jenkins' son, Patrick, often traveled with his father's horses when they ran out of town and won 60 races as a trainer himself between 2006 and 2021. He now works as an assistant for Woody Payne based in Charlottesville, Va.

"Patrick's doing OK. I just sent him up the road to Maryland here a little while ago. Rodney's health had been declining so he was mentally prepared for it, as well. He was just up there about a week ago visiting with his dad," Payne said.