RASH DIES OF BLOOD DISORDER.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Daily News Staff Writer

Rodney Rash, the young thoroughbred trainer whose Urgent Request is scheduled to defend his Santa Anita Handicap title today, died Friday morning, three days after entering a hospital with a blood disorder.

Rash was 36. He died at Midway Hospital in Los Angeles of complications from thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, the cause of which is unknown.

Gregg Kaminsky, who described himself as Rash's partner, said Rash first felt ill a week ago and entered the hospital Tuesday afternoon for tests. Treatments, including dialysis and blood transfusion, failed, and Rash died of heart failure.

Kaminsky said Rash had liver trouble a few years ago, but no history of other medical problems.

"This is a shock," assistant trainer Ben Cecil said at Rash's Santa Anita barn late Friday afternoon.

A Frederick, Md., farm boy, Rash left home at 16 and went to work as a stable hand for Charlie Whittingham in California. Rash credited Whittingham with helping him overcome alcoholism and drug abuse and making him a skilled trainer - good enough to attract stakes horses as soon as he opened his own barn in 1991.

"I raised him, practically," said Whittingham, 82, who has said Rash used to be "crazier than a peach-orchard boar."

Rash had hated his name - Rodney Ray Rash - until a friend pointed out that it meant he could open "Triple R Stables."

"I said, 'There's a reason for everything,' " Rash said in 1991.

Rash's important victories included the 1992 Oak Tree Invitational (Navarone) and the 1994 Malibu Stakes (Powis Castle). But the 1995 Big 'Cap win by Stewart Aitken's Urgent Request was the trainer's biggest.

"He could be a tough guy to work for," Cecil said. "He was a perfectionist. He was the first person at the track in the morning. He wanted his horses to be first on the (workout) track. If there was one (piece of equipment) out of place, he wanted it put right.

"But inside he was very nice. If anybody was in any trouble, he would help them."

Cecil said Rash had a particular soft spot for employees with alcohol and drug problems. Rash was sober since 1986.

Funeral arrangements were pending.

As for Urgenr Request, Cecil said the horse would compete in today's $1 million race, with Rash listed as his trainer in the program.

Three other Rash-trained horses are scheduled to run today and Sunday. The last of them is a 3-year-old named Ghostown.

"Until the end of the weekend," Cecil said, "everything will go as normal."