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Franklin died of lung cancer in Baltimore on March 8, 2018, at the age of 58.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 business from 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.

Ronnie Franklin (December 20, 1959 – March 8, 2018) was a National Champion jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing who, at age 19, rode Spectacular Bid to wins at the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.