Ruffian
From AlexBrownRacing
Contents |
Remembering Ruffian
Remembering Ruffian: Horse won fans' hearts like no other
Thoroughbred Champions:Ruffian
Ruffian Who Would Not Be Defeated
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
Books
RUFFIAN, BURNING FROM THE START
Follows Ruffian at every stage of her career as well as the agony of her final hours.
Ruffian, Burning from the start; Wonderful book about the greatest filly of all time. The book will transport you back to the early 70's, Its an easy read, however the end is very heartbreaking. Bring your tissues.
"Like his subjects, author William Nack has an enviable track record. His 1988 Secretariat: The Making of a Champion became a turf classic. This racetrack memoir about his stint as a Newsday sports reporter will extend that winning streak. At the center of his gripping tale is Ruffian, the spirited, undefeated three-year-old filly who thrilled millions of fans in the mid-1970s. Before stumbling and incurring what proved to be a fatal injury in her final race, Ruffian racked up 10 consecutive victories. Nack's writing skills, track savvy, and love for the sport make this heart-stopping narrative a must-read."
LICORICE DAUGHTER: MY YEAR WITH RUFFIAN
"Thoroughbred racing has never gotten over Ruffian. Lyn Lifshin came out of nowhere to become a Ruffian fan, a zealot for everything Ruffian stood for and all that she touched. Her poems will carry you away to a field of Kentucky foals, to the racetrack where each new horse could be the one, to the bone-numbing feeling of a runaway winner and to the despair of watching brilliance flame out. Ruffian would have liked Lifshin."—Sean Clancy, author of Saratoga Days
YouTube Videos of Ruffian's 10 Filly Victories
5/22/1974: Debut Race-Maiden Special Weights
4/14/1975: Allowance (Caltha Purse)
5/10/1975: Acorn Stakes (1st race of the Filly Triple Crown)
5/31/1975: Mother Goose Stakes (2nd race of the Filly Triple Crown)
6/21/1975: Coaching Club American Oaks (3rd race of the Filly Triple Crown)
Video Tributes
A Wonderful Montage to "The Worlds Greatest" by R. Kelly
Ruffian...Music: Everloving by Moby
The Great Match Race - WARNING: Footage of Ruffian's breakdown
Link to Gallery of Champions Photos
DVD: ESPN Made for TV Movie
If you want a high-quality version of the ESPN made for TV Ruffina movie without commercial interruption, then I recommend you purchase the Ruffian DVD. It includes bonus features that were not a part of the ESPN broadcast. What you get with the DVD (in addition to the movie) is:
1. Original footage of 8 out of the 10 filly races that Ruffian won. It includes her match race breakdown, but you can opt out of watching it.
2. Sportscentury Flashback - Ruffian
3. A Barbero/Ruffian Tribute - William Nack narrated this and his words made me cry.
4. Sportscentury interview with Bill Nack
5. On-the-set documentary
6. Audio commentary by director Yves Simoneau & editor Michael Ornstein
The DVD Bonus features alone make this DVD worth the price of the purchase. They are a wonderful tribute to the Great Ruffian's memory.
Ruffian to Rags: Tribute from a Fan
On July 7, 1975, Ruffian, one of the greatest fillies to grace the track, became the only horse to be honored with a grave on the inside of the Belmont Racetrack. She was euthanized after breaking down the day before during the woefully misnamed "Great Match Race".
Foolish Pleasure finished the race in front of an ominously silent crowd of people who were intently focused on the other horse suffering in the back stretch. The colt technically won the race, but on that day, horse racing lost part of its soul.
Fans of Ruffian will never forget that when she broke down, she was in the lead. She was in the lead and she tried to keep running. She was still trying to run when she woke up from the surgery on her shattered leg. After thrashing about and causing further injuries, Ruffian was put out of her misery.
I didn’t see the ill-fated match race back in 1975. However, I recently and reluctantly watched the footage on YouTube. The image of Ruffian valiantly struggling to finish will haunt me for the rest of my life. Ruffian's body broke down, but her huge heart never gave up. My heart ached.
After the match race was over, the harsh reality set in that world would never again see Ruffian's bold and brilliant form blaze across the finish line. She was a once in a lifetime filly. When she died, she took all of her huge heart with her. In a way, a big part of the heart of the sport went with her too.
On June 9th, 2007, a little bit of that long lost heart started beating again during the 139th running of the Belmont Stakes. The feisty filly, Rags to Riches, battled it out with a top colt, Curlin, the winner of the 2007 Preakness, and galloped her way into the history books as the first filly to win the Belmont Stakes in over a century, 102 years to be exact.
She was also the first filly to win running the distance of 1 and 1/2 miles.
It is true that the 2:28.74 winning time for Rags to Riches broke no records. In fact, on July 9, 1973, (34 years ago to the day of her win) Secretariat, her great grandsire, put the final jewel in his Triple Crown winning by 31 lengths with a record speed of 2:24 that still stands today.
However, Rags to Riches was faster than Secretariat in one regard: She ran the final quarter of a mile in 23.83 seconds, the fastest time since 1934!
Another observation: Rags to Riches ran the race almost entirely on the far outside. Who knows what her time could have been had she taken a shorter distance around the track? But at this point, who's counting? It was the way she won that will forever "light the corners of my mind."
The 2007 Belmont Stakes was a race for the ages. The victory of Rags to Riches began with a heart-stopping stumble out of the gate where she almost went down on her knees, and unfolded into a bittersweet metaphor of another great champion filly, Ruffian, rising from her knees to finish her final race.
With the ¼ and ½ mile times being 24.740 and 50.140, respectively, the initial pace of the 2007 Belmont was, in the words of the caller, Tom Durkin, “tepid” and a “bit of a crawl”.
However, as the horses came out of the final turn, Curlin bolted between the leaders and grabbed the lead on the inside. At the same time, Rags to Riches charged from 5th place, sweeping 4-wide on the outside. Within a few seconds, she was out in front!
Suddenly, the 139th Belmont was as close to a modern day match race as you could get. It was Rags to Riches on the outside and Curlin on the inside. They left the rest of the field in the dust and went head-to-head as they thundered down the final stretch. It got to the point where the crowd pretty much forgot there were 5 other horses on the track.
Only this time, the race ended with a thrilling win for the filly...
I hope we have come full circle, from Ruffian to Rags. I hope to see Rags to Riches' bold and brilliant form blaze across the finish line again. She too is a once in a lifetime filly. In a way, she is helping to bring back some heart to the sport.
Thank you, Ruffian and Rags, for giving us your hearts and the memories: memories that belong not only in the horse racing record books, but also, somewhere in The Field of Dreams.
Other Links of Interest
UNOFFICIAL THOROUGHBRED HALL OF FAME: RUFFIAN
"In November, the editor of The Blood-Horse, not believing that Frank Whiteley had been quoted accurately when it was written that Ruffian was "the best horse he had ever trained," traveled to South Carolina to look into the validity of the statements himself. Whiteley, usually very guarded when evaluating his horses, not only verified the quotes, but added one more. The two-year-old filly, who had only started five times in her career, was the best horse he had ever seen."
"In her ten career starts, Ruffian was not only undefeated, but had led the field at every point in every race. Her combined margins of victory totaled eighty-three lengths. She had also equaled two track records, was the owner of seven stakes records, and had tied an eighth stakes record."
FAN WEBSITE - RUFFIAN: RACING'S GREATEST FILLY
"She also shattered the previous record for a 2 year old at 6 furlongs at Saratoga, going 1:08 3/5, faster than any of the greats of the past including Man o' War and Secretariat."
"Ruffian (April 17, 1972 - July 7, 1975) was an American champion thoroughbred racehorse, considered by many horseracing enthusiasts to be the greatest female racehorse of all time."
"She earned the nickname "Queen of the Fillies" after being voted the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Two-Year-Old Filly in 1974 and winning the Filly Triple Crown (now called the Triple Tiara) in 1975. She was undefeated in her first ten races, covering distances from 5 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/2 miles (1106 to 2414 m) with an average winning margin of 8 1/3 lengths."
"Sports Illustrated included her as the only non-human on their list of the top 100 female athletes of the century, ranking her 53rd."
Photo Gallery
