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| Ruffian Breyer Model |
Ruffian was a seal
brown, almost black filly born on April 17, 1972. Her sire was
Reviewer, her dam was Shenanigans, and her grandsire was Native Dancer. Ruffian was born on Clairborne Farm in Kentucky. She was bred by Stuart S. Janny
and Barbara Phipps Janny.
When she was two years old, she started training with Frank Y. Whitly, Jr. She won the 1974 Outstanding Two Year Old Filly Eclipse Award. In the same year, she also won the Filly Triple Crown.
She won the Spinaway Stakes in track record time. After the race, it was discovered that she had a hairline fracture in her right hind leg. She was undefeated in 10 races. Her 11th race was scheduled against Foolish Pleasure as a match race. Foolish Pleasure was that year's Kentucky Derby winner. It was considered not just a match against two great horses but a battle of the sexes.
There were over 50,000 spectators and another estimated 20 million people watching what was referred to as "The Great Match." As Ruffian left the starting gate, she hit her shoulder coming out of the gate, taking the lead by little more than a nose.
The first quarter mile was run in 22 and 1/5 seconds. A little more than one furlong later, Ruffian was leading Foolish Pleasure by around half a length when both sesamoid bones in her right foreleg broke. Her jockey, Jacinto Vasquez tried to stop her from going any further, but Ruffian kept running.
When jockey was finally able to pull her up, her hoof was hanging on by little more than a shred of skin. She was taken from the track and underwent three hours of emergency surgery on her leg. When she awoke from anesthesia she lashed around wildly in the recovery stall. She undid all of the surgical repairs that had been done to her leg and also shattered her elbow on the same leg.
When she was two years old, she started training with Frank Y. Whitly, Jr. She won the 1974 Outstanding Two Year Old Filly Eclipse Award. In the same year, she also won the Filly Triple Crown.
She won the Spinaway Stakes in track record time. After the race, it was discovered that she had a hairline fracture in her right hind leg. She was undefeated in 10 races. Her 11th race was scheduled against Foolish Pleasure as a match race. Foolish Pleasure was that year's Kentucky Derby winner. It was considered not just a match against two great horses but a battle of the sexes.
There were over 50,000 spectators and another estimated 20 million people watching what was referred to as "The Great Match." As Ruffian left the starting gate, she hit her shoulder coming out of the gate, taking the lead by little more than a nose.
The first quarter mile was run in 22 and 1/5 seconds. A little more than one furlong later, Ruffian was leading Foolish Pleasure by around half a length when both sesamoid bones in her right foreleg broke. Her jockey, Jacinto Vasquez tried to stop her from going any further, but Ruffian kept running.
When jockey was finally able to pull her up, her hoof was hanging on by little more than a shred of skin. She was taken from the track and underwent three hours of emergency surgery on her leg. When she awoke from anesthesia she lashed around wildly in the recovery stall. She undid all of the surgical repairs that had been done to her leg and also shattered her elbow on the same leg.
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| Ruffian Model Horse |
It was decided that she probably would not survive more extensive surgery, and was put down shortly after. Ruffian's death made people demand more humane treatment of racehorses. After that, the recovery pool was invented so that when horses woke from surgery, they were immersed in warm water and could not thrash around and injure themselves.
Ruffian's bloodlines may have contributed to her injury. Her father broke down three times in his racing career and broke down a fourth time in his paddock, which led to him being put down. Native Dancer was considered to be the start of "soft bond genetics." This is the belief that a tendency to have bones that are more susceptible to injury can be passed down from previous generations.
Ruffian is buried near a flagpole at Belmont track in the infield with her nose pointing towards the finish line. Secretariat's trainer, Lucian Lauren said that she might even have been better than Secretariat. Ruffian died on July 7, 1975. She only lived to be three years old. After her death, she was ranked among the top 100 racehorses of the 20th century by BloodHorse Magazine.
If you are interested in learning more about Ruffian, I would highly recommend the article Ruffian Remembered. It is my favorite article about Ruffian.
What a tragic and yet beautiful story! What a heart that horse had and so sad she didn't live longer. Thanks for sharing this!
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