Ruffian

Ruffian, “Queen of The Fillies”, had shown great form from the minute she was born; long legged, deep girthed and a neatly proportioned neck and head. She was brave, courageous, always had perseverance, and was all around sweet tempered.

She was foaled on April 17, 1972 at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. Ruffian was a very dark bay, almost black. She was a sweet tempered filly. At nearly 17 hands back then she was “a monster”. At the age of two she was professionally trained by Frank Y. Whiteley Jr. People called her a “tall fat freak.” She was underestimated. She won all the races she was entered in. She won by at least five and half lengths to one and a half miles! She blew all the other fillies away. She even won the Filly Triple Crown. (Today that is called the Triple Tiara.) She was going to be challenged in talent. Hot n Nasty was a great bay filly that had almost the talent of Ruffian. Ruffian persevered and won the Sorority Stakes while she was injured. Once again she never gave up. She had a fresh popped splint on her leg. She won that race, too.

"Until these colts are measured against Ruffian, none of them has much of a claim on the title of 3-year-old champion. Right now we do not believe that -even to escape a swarm of Brazil's hybrid African honeybees- any of these could catch up with the Stuart Janneys' big filly."

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That was when she was challenged to her last race by the Kentucky Derby’s winner, Foolish Pleasure. He was one of the greatest colts at the time. It was “the battle of the sexes.” Foolish Pleasure and Ruffian came out strong, pounding away from the starting gate. Soon after she erupted from the gate with tremendous heart, she hit her shoulder and hurt herself. She didn’t give up. She thundered after the speeding colt and pushed her nose in front. She always had to win.

That was when Ruffian broke down. She had pulverized her ligaments in her leg. Ruffian kept on running. Her jockey tried desperately to stop her, knowing she would injure herself more. She refused to stop. Ruffian was running on her ever showing bone.

When the jockey had finally pulled her up, her right hoof was just dangling from a pocket of skin. People from all direction came to help the hurt filly. She was immediately loaded into a trailer and shipped to her stall. Ruffian was put through an emergency surgery to save her elbow and leg. She had a less than ten percent of a chance to live.

After she had awakened up from the anesthetics she was thrashing in her stall. She thought she was in a race. She broke the cast that supported her leg and damaged her leg further. Her owners were confronted with a choice, go through another surgery or put her down. Finally, she was sadly put down on July of 1975. Ruffian was only three years old. She was buried in Belmont Park where her head pointed to the finish line for all her spirit life.

Ruffian was brave, as seen in all of her heroic races. She was trustworthy, never throwing anyone off of her back. She was sweet and kind until her last breath. She stuck it out with the big bad colts, showing tremendous bravery. She ran with courage no matter if she was hurt or not. Ruffian had a spirit that no other horse could match. She lived life to the fullest with a demeanor that was unexplainable.