Franklin was born in Baltimore, Maryland and grew up in nearby Dundalk, he was the youngest of six children. He attended Patapsco High School where he briefly played on the school's baseball team. Because he was so small in stature, the coach would insert him into the line-up, hoping to draw a base on balls. Franklin dropped out of high school when he was 16 years old. He set off for the local racetrack in 1976, looking for work as a jockey where he met trainer Bud Delp. Delp hired him as a stablehand where he learned the businessfrom the ground up. He cleaned stables, walked horses and did other odd jobs around the track. Franklin was later sent to a training center in Middleburg, Virginia; there, he learned to ride yearlings.
Career
On February 4, 1978, Franklin, riding in his first race aboard Pioneer Patty, won at Bowie Race Track in Maryland. His second career win was aboard Deficit. In his first year of racing, Franklin won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey. In 1979, at the age of 19, Franklin mounted Spectacular Bid and won the Kentucky Derby, the colt's 11th consecutive win. Two weeks later he followed up the Derby win with a win in the Preakness Stakes and became the favorite to win racing's Triple Crown at Belmont Park. Two weeks later Franklin and Spectacular Bid were off to the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in New York. A win there would catapult both to thoroughbred racing's highest honor: the Triple Crown; and would see the third Triple Crown winner in succession. Spectacular Bid, however, finished third behind Coastal and Golden Act. In the mile-and-a-half race Spectacular Bid moved rather early and tired noticeably in the stretch. Franklin was blamed for the loss, most notably by the horse's trainer, Bud Delp. Nine days later, Franklin was arrested for possession of cocaine outside of Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Franklin rode 1,403 winning mounts in 9,242 starts from 1978 to 1992, and won purses of more than $14 million, but he never rode Spectacular Bid again, being replaced by Hall of Fame Rider Bill Shoemaker. Among his other successes he won the J. Edgar Hoover Handicap a record five times. Franklin talked of returning as a jockey, though he was repeatedly denied licenses from state commissions because of his drug problems. He continued riding horses in California until he was diagnosed with lung cancer. In 2017, Franklin moved to Baltimore to receive further cancer treatment and retired from riding horses.
Death
Franklin died of lung cancer in Baltimore on March 8, 2018, at the age of 58.
