A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

wolfstraum — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 13:20:53 GMT

Cried my eyes out when I read this....could hardly finish it....

Racing caught my interest as a horse crazy child and my first memories were watching Tim Tam win the Derby....by the time Ruffian had come along I could recite generations of pedigrees and histories - and I was convinced that this filly was one of the Greatest who ever set hoof on a track....

That dark day, that horrible moment, when on the television screen, I saw the misstep ~ I have never stopped crying when I have seen or heard her name...

Being involved in equine vet medicine on and off for the last 30 years, it is really hard to say if she could have even been saved given the advances...if she got through recovery, would the specter of laminatis have been as fatal for her as for Barbaro?

The memory of Ruffian, and the tragedy, burns bright in every true horse lovers heart.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

sonny hudson — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 18:34:37 GMT

As with Serena's comment against my better judgement I read the article. Extremely well written, but even 40 years later very painful. What a great horse.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

Steel Dragon — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 21:30:27 GMT

Sceptre:

Just hope you understand that I was just repeating something that was widely circulated and debated at the time, and wasn't accusing Mr. Janney of any negligence. Here's an article I found on it that no doubt raised speculation:

http://tinyurl.com/o35p6rg

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

Terri Drennen — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 15:52:33 GMT

Ruffian was unlike any other horse I have ever seen, male or female. I have always said about her: a sprinter and distance horse wrapped up in a show horse's body. How often do we see that? We don't. I have a photo of her as she was launching out of the starting gate of that horrible race and she was almost spinning herself sideways. Had that not happened..we all know what WOULD have happened. Foolish Pleasure may have kept up with her for awhile until she hit her second gear. Does anyone remember reading in one of the books about her that after one of her long races, her trainer had Jacinto take her out an extra distance before letting up on her and they secretly timed that? It was better than anyone else's time. (sorry, I don't have the book in front of me to post the time) but I do remember reading about that. What else is there to say about the greatest filly we have experienced? Sure, I enjoyed Zenyatta, Rachel, Personal Ensign, Genny, but I truly believe that Ruffian, the Black Beauty of our time, would not have even let them think about catching her. The biggest shame in the sports history was losing the greatest ever. As far as her and Slew, don't know about how close the breeding would have been there, but I always thought Swale would have been a nice mate for her. And of course, let us not forget what happened to him as well. Long Live the true Queen of Racing.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

sceptre — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 00:00:40 GMT

My last comments were meant for Steel Dragon.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

sceptre — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 18:58:46 GMT

I gave it a few days to see if others might respond to your comments about Mr. Janney. None were offered, but it should be addressed. By all accounts, and from my few conversations with him, it's rather clear that Mr. Janney was a fine man, a horseman as well, and a very wealthy man at that. It's inconceivable (to me) that he would have agreed to run Ruffian in that race had he believed she wasn't "right". I also doubt that he had an insurance policy on her, and if he had, it was unrelated to that upcoming race. Yes, it's likely that Ruffian had some preexisting issues which contributed to her breakdown, but I strongly doubt that Mr. Janney was aware of them and, perhaps, they were unknown to all.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

Susan from VA — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 16:13:58 GMT

Beautiful writing. In my early women's lib days, I thought that they euthanized Ruffian because she was a mare - they would have worked harder to save a stallion, which would have been more valuable in the breeding shed. Now I know it was due to the limitations of veterinary medicine.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

Pedigree Ann — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 11:10:16 GMT

Steel Dragon - Revidere wasn't a half-sister to Ruffian, but she did have the same sire. Revidere was champion 3yo filly of 1976, after she breezed through the CCA Oaks, Monmouth Oaks, Cotillon, and Gazelle - most of those run at different times of the year than they are now. She lost her first try against the older mares in the Beldame, but won against them in the new G1 Ruffian H at 10f, beating Bastonera and Optimistic Gal. She then took on older males in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and finished 3rd.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

tjconway — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 23:16:32 GMT

The match race was the ultimate "tragedy". In terms of tragedies,Ruffian would have made Shakespere look like a pussy!...I know I"ll get deleted for that one,but that's how I feel!!!!!!!!!

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

tjconway — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 23:13:07 GMT

Great article Steve. Great comments "Everybody"!

My top 5 fillies/mares:

1)Ruffian

2)Zenyatta

3)Regret

4)TaWee

5)Goldikova

There would have been a lot of pomp and circumstance if Secretariat "married" Ruffian....but we'll never know!

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

kingston. — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 19:06:34 GMT

In 1974 the Astoria was run at Aqueduct.Ruffian never broke a track record

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

nobledancer — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 19:00:09 GMT

I usually run like the dickens from any article dealing with Ruffian, because, at least for me, the ending is so inevitable and casts a giant shadow over every other aspect of her career. As a result, I know that I have deprived myself of some great reading. Because of it is you, I could not simply turn the page on this blog, and am grateful that I did not. I learned some things about Ruffian's early training that I never knew, and was given a fresh appreciation of the courageous effort of the mitey Hot n Nasty in the Sorority Stakes. I was so caught up in the story that I even allowed myself to believe, just a little bit, that the ending would be different this time. But not even the magic of your words could change the outcome of Ruffian's tragic match race. Would that they could, Steve, would that they could.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

secretariat7273 — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 17:10:37 GMT

Steel Dragon: Revidere, while not in the class of Ruffian, had a very, very nice career. She won 8 of 11 starts including the CCAO, the Monmouth Oaks, the Gazelle, the Cotillion and appropriately, the Ruffian. She never finished out of the money (11/8-2-1) and won an Eclipse Award as the best 3 year old filly in 1976. Very nice indeed and I remember being a fan. Despite her excellent record, there was always the slight feeling of disappointment about her I guess simply because of being related to the greatest filly of my lifetime. I remember the match race very well as it is probably the blackest day in the sport to me. I lived in NYC then and I distinctly remember all the excitement about this ill-fated race. It became a feminist issue back then about the girl beating the boy with posters all over town. I didn't want the match race as I was also a very big fan of Foolish Pleasure. It's almost blasphemy, but I thought he would beat her. The race itself, a very bad idea, was very, very damaging to the sport. The TV audience was huge as I recall and it brought in viewers who would not normally watch a horse race and what they saw was a horror show that turned many off to the sport forever. I truly think it caused some permanent damage to the sport. The original concept of a race between the 3 TC winners and adding her in was a good and fascinating one, but match races are deadly due to both horses having to run all out from the beginning to the end. The best thing about this terrible race tragedy is that there has not been a major match race run again since then that I am aware of. Oh yes, Hot N Nasty. I remember she scared the hell of me that day!

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

Sabrina — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 13:26:06 GMT

I saw, at the break, she jammed her right front hoof into the ground and pivoted slightly bouncing off the gate. She had a terrible start and i will always believe that she fractured the ankle coming out of the gate. She never took a bad step in her entire life...that's hogwash. She fractured her sesamoids coming out of the gate when she jammed her ankle into the ground, as she ran on the fractured bones...they shattered. That's exactly what happened...the bones shattered. How many horses do you read about shattering their sesamoids...they usually fracture them...not shatter them through the skin. She kept running because she was going so fast her momentum wouldn't allow her to stop immediately...but as soon as it happened she quickly shortened her stride....she wasn't trying to continue to run....she was trying to stop on three legs...not an easy task when you're running like 40MPH. That's what happened...I can't confirm it, but ask yourself how many horses shatter their bones like that...there was an underlying problem with the bone because he was already fractured. When you run on a fracture...what else can the bone do but shatter.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

Sabrina — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 13:16:17 GMT

One of the saddest moments in horse racing history... I'll never forget. So many great fillies have been lost; Dark Mirage, Lamb Chop, Go For Wand, Pine Island, Eight Belles...I've witnessed them all. I still remember her Coaching Club American Oaks win...when she ran that mile and a half more than 2 seconds faster than Tonalist ran in the Belmont Stakes. All the way around Belmont's huge oval..she just kept pouring it on whenever another horse would get to within two lengths of her and she did this throughout the entire race. She just skipped along like she was running in a sprint race. That was the amazing part about her...she never got tired.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

barryaksarben — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 15:56:13 GMT

I worked for Marion and then Jack Van Berg as a kid and have been around the track for the whole of my life and there was NEVER a more imposing, beautiful or talented horse than Ruffian. Every single time she raced she set a stakes record. Everyone talks about Secretariat, and he was a great horse but he and all others will always be second to the greatest. Ruffian

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

Terlingua — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 14:48:23 GMT

Sceptre, I understand what you mean by Ruffian's having raced against relatively weak competition, but do not want anyone thinking that had anything to do with her victories. She raced against the clock and broke or equaled stakes records every time. Yes, she sure was "essentially...untested."

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

Steel Dragon — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 14:20:45 GMT

I'm real sure Pedigree Ann is correct about the Belmont chute.

And to correct myself about Revidere, she and Ruffian had the same sire only (Reviewer). Trained by David Whitely, she debuted as a 3YO in 1976 and began her career 7 for 7 including the CCA Oaks. She went into the Beldame unbeaten but failed to catch the very good mare Proud Delta. Two weeks later she won what I assume was the inaugural Ruffian Handicap by 14 lengths. She concluded her season with a 3rd place finish in the JC Gold Cup and raced only one more time in an allowance race on 7/4/77.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

Pedigree Ann — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 12:15:30 GMT

SJ- Just to make sure nobody misunderstands, ALL 10f races at Belmont were started in the 10f chute up until sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, was it? am over in northern Ireland without my personal research library. It was not a special construction for the match race or anything. They changed the start position because some complained that it was hard to see the start, way over there behind the trees. Yet it was fairer for the horses, since they had a straight track in front of them at the break.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

Steel Dragon — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 02:00:06 GMT

Another theory was that she spooked from the seagulls vacating the track. We'll never know and we'll never see one like her again.

I was in love with Laughing Bridge especially after hearing that she actually fell asleep in the starting gate once while waiting for the rest of the field to load. Bet her once or twice against Ruffian, before learning my lesson.

After the tragedy I recall some short lived excitement about a filly named Revidere who I think was a half to Ruffian. Nice horse, but it didn't quite pan out.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

Bill Two — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 01:43:53 GMT

People tend to forget that Jacinto Vasquez was the regular rider of both horses at the time and he chose to ride Ruffian in the match race. That tells us a lot about which horse he thought as better.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

Bill Two — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 01:30:23 GMT

Every once in a while I think of Ruffian and the impact she made. You put it right,she was like a a gust of wind that ran through the sport all too briefly. I think Landaluce made a similar impact and both of them will be remembered as long as horses race.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

rachel fan — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 23:18:53 GMT

racingfan: I wasn't necessarily saying that I agree with the opinion that Ruffian's pedigree eventually caused her breakdown. I've read other theories as well, one writer going as far as to say she spoke to Frank Whiteley, who told her that Ruffian's ankle struck the gate as she jumped and that's what led to the fatal injury. I've watched footage of the race's break over and over, but I only see Ruffian's shoulder hit the gate and not her ankle, so I'm not sure I buy her story, but I am inclined to believe as you do, that it was indeed at the gate where the injury occurred or originated. Whatever the cause, it was certainly one of the great tragedies and losses in horse racing.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

SJ — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 22:09:40 GMT

The incident involving the break others referred to was the fact the chute was extended to the training track. This was done to accommodate the distance to avoid breaking on the turn. There was a brief incline then descent which some conjectured to be a contributing factor. None of those directly involved bought into that theory. Too brilliant for her own good.

re: A 'Nasty' Challenge For Ruffian

Jean in Chicago — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 16:20:12 GMT

Paula & Quinbit,

I also cringe every time someone mentions a match race. They never really settle anything and just increase the possibility of disaster. The promoters will keep pushing the idea ('can't disappoint the fans'--i.e., all that money involved) whether or not a horse is truly fit. Its been bad enough over the years watching horses not really up for the Belmont run anyway (often against their trainers advice). There are enough races where fans can see their favorites compete against each other.

I, too, stopped following racing for a long time after Ruffian's death and I still have a hard time looking at Richard Stone Reeves' portrait of her.