Ruffian: Racing's Greatest Filly

       Perhaps the most famous filly in horse racing was the legen, Ruffian. The little girl gave her everything every time she got onto the track, and in one of racing's most successful decades-the 70's-she captured the hearts of the nation. She is recorded as undefeated, and no other fillies stood a chance against her. She won races by as much as 15 lengths, flying past all competitnion. In 1976, she was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. She is ranked #35 on the top 100 thoroughbred champions for the 20th century, the highest rated filly on the rankings. By virtue of this ranking, she holds the title "Filly of the Century," and Sports Illustrated even featured her on their list of 100 greatest female athletes of the century, ranking her #53, the only non-human on the list. The trainer of Secretariat even once stated, "With God as my witness, she may be even better than Secretariat." This filly swept the nation like so many other horses of the century, however unlike her predecessors, she was a little girl.
       Ruffian was a coal black filly, standing 17.5 hands high. She was born at Claireborne Farm, near Paris, Kentucky. Her grandfather was another racing legend, Bold Ruler, and Secretariat's sire. She earned the nickname "Queen of Fillies," after her  Eclipse Award for Outstanding Two-Year-Old Filly in 1974, and winning the Filly Triple Crown in 1975. If Ruffian didn't set her own recrods in stakes races or at tracks, she alawys met them. All but one of her recrods stand unbeaten today, the exception being Rachel Alexandra in 2009, beating her time by a second in the Mother Goose Stakes.
       Ruffian's most famous race of all time was her match race-a race with two horses-against Foolish Pleasure, one of the top three colts of his time and that years Kentucky Derby Winner. The race was held at Belmont Park on July 6, 1975. They had previously shared the same jockey, Jacinto Vasquez, however he chose to ride Ruffian that day, believing her to be the better of the two horses. This "equine battle of the sexes," was eagerly viewed by the nation, with 50,000 spectators and an estimated 18 million tuning in on the television. At the start, the two horses flew out of the starting gate, and about a furlong in, Ruffian was in lead by a nose. She had the lead by half a length, when both sesamoid bones in her right foreleg snapped. Vasquez tried to pull her up, but the filly refused to stop, she kept running, pulverizing her sesamoids, tearing the skin off of her fetlock, and tearing her ligaments until her hoof was flopping uselessly. Vasquez said that try as he would, the filly refused to stop running, she wanted to finish the race.
       Immediately after the race she was attended to by veterinarians, and went into an emergency operation lasting 3 hours. When the anesthesia wore off, she began thrashing wildly in the padded stall, as if she were trying to run. Her legs thrashing as they were, she shattered her elbow, and causing her foreleg to become ripped open again, undoing everything they had fixed in surgery. Shortly after, she was euthanized, the medical team agreed she would be unable to survive more extensive surgery.
       Many concede that Ruffian would have won the match race that day, even the owner of Foolish Pleasure. Once Ruffian had the lead, she refused to let anyone take it from her. After her breakdown however, it led to a public outcry for more humane treatment of racehorses. It is natural and expected for horses to thrash when they come out of anesthesia, so after the protests after her death, a "recovery pool" was developed for horses coming out of anesthesia, so awoke suspended in warm water and unable to hurt themselves. Extensive pain medications and inflammation came into use, and while this was good in short term, it was a downside at the racetrack because now many horses were being raced, still injured. Her death caused arguments within the sport about causes of why their bones are becoming too delicate as results of inbreeding, racing too young, and racing while injured.
       Ruffian's legacy as the greatest racing filly carries on today, and while her death was a detriment to the entire nation, her death also led to the public outcry for the more humane treatment of racehorses, and caused those involved in the sport to question ways to make the sport safer for the horses. She is a filly that will not be forgotten, and those who know of her story know what a truly amazing athlete she was.