ruffian

Belmont, NY (Sports Network) - Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Riches will not race in the Ruffian Stakes at Belmont Park on Saturday, September 8. Trainer Todd Pletcher has decided that the three-year-old filly will instead start the following week in the Gazelle Stakes.

Rags to Riches, one of only three females to win the Belmont Stakes, has had health issues since capturing the third leg of racing's Triple Crown. Twice this summer she has come down with a fever and missed scheduled workouts.

Owned by Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, Rags to Riches has won all five starts this year for more than $1.29 million. In addition to the Belmont Stakes she won the Santa Anita Oaks and Kentucky Oaks.

Rags to Riches is being pointed toward the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Monmouth Park on Saturday, October 27. There been talk that she might run in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic versus males.
ELMONT, N.Y. -- The connections of Take D' Tour already have reservations for next month's Breeders' Cup at Monmouth Park. On Saturday, it is up to their 6-year-old mare to confirm them.

Take D' Tour returns to Belmont Park for Saturday's Grade 1 Ruffian Handicap, shooting to get another graded stakes victory over this track while putting in a solid enough performance to propel her to next month's $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff. Last year, Take D' Tour won the Shuvee and Phipps at Belmont and was second in the Ruffian.

It looked as though Take D' Tour was going to have things her own way on the front end in Saturday's Ruffian until trainer Allen Jerkens decided to put Teammate in the race.

Now, the Ruffian looks very similar to the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Handicap on June 16 when Take D' Tour dueled with Teammate through fast fractions - 23.07 seconds, 44.97, and 1:09.24 - before holding off Ginger Punch by a neck. Teammate, Ginger Punch, Miss Shop and Rahys' Appeal round out the quintet entered in the 1 1/16-mile Ruffian.

"Should have got beat," said David Fawkes, trainer of Take D' Tour, of the Phipps. "The race set up so she's supposed to get beat. She ran hard enough to win."

Fawkes said he gave Take D' Tour plenty of time to recover from that race, believing that he over-raced her last year, which resulted in her missing the Breeders' Cup. Fawkes didn't breeze Take D' Tour for a month after the Phipps, but said her last breeze - a five-furlong move in 1:00.20 on Sunday at Calder - prompted an enthusiastic call to Take D' Tour's owner, Alice Muller.

"The bear's back; she woke up out of her hibernation," Fawkes said he told Muller. "The other day was just a picture-perfect breeze. I couldn't have asked for anything better."

Take D' Tour will break from post 4 under regular rider Eibar Coa.

Trainer Bobby Frankel believes David Flores left Ginger Punch too much to do in the Phipps. Rafael Bejarano is back aboard and has been in the irons for all five of Ginger Punch's victories, including the Go for Wand last out.

Frankel is of the opinion that Teammate will be taken back in the Phipps, meaning, he said, "I'll have to keep [Take D 'Tour] entertained myself."

The game of cat-and-mouse could set things up for Miss Shop, who returns two weeks after coming from off the pace for an upset win in the Gradeo1 Personal Ensign.
Ruffian (April 17, 1972 - July 7, 1975) was an American champion thoroughbred racehorse, considered to be one of the greatest female racehorses of all time.

A dark bay, almost coal black filly, Ruffian was foaled at Claiborne Farm, near Paris, Kentucky. She was bred by Stuart S. Janney, Jr. and Barbara Phipps Janney, owners of Locust Hill Farm in Glyndon, Maryland. Ruffian was sired by the Phipps family's Bold Ruler stallion Reviewer and out of the Native Dancer mare Shenanigans. Ruffian was trained by Frank Whiteley.

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. She won her maiden in record time and by 15 lengths. She was unbeatable. Nothing could get close enough to even nibble on her saddle cloth. Her eleventh and final race, run at Belmont Park on July 6, 1975, was a match race between Ruffian and that year's Kentucky Derby winner, Foolish Pleasure. What is interesting about Foolish Pleasure and Ruffian, is that they shared the same jockey; though in the match race, he chose Ruffian, believing her to be the better of the two. The equine battle of the sexes" was heavily anticipated and attended by more than 50,000 spectators, with an estimated 18 million watching on television.

Ruffian hit her shoulder on the starting gate extremely hard, just as the starting gate was let out. She recovered quickly, but was in quite a bit of pain and leaning more heavily on her right foreleg to help ease the pain. The first quarter-mile (402 m) was run in a blazing 22 1/5 seconds, with Ruffian ahead by a nose. Little more than a furlong (201 m) later, Ruffian was in front by half a length when both sesamoid bones in her right foreleg snapped. Her jockey, Jacinto Vasquez, tried to pull her up, but she ran on for another 50 yards (46 m), apparently unwilling to give up the race. She was known for her incredible love of running and unwillingness to lose. She had never before been behind in a race.

She was immediately attended to by a team of four veterinarians and an orthopedic surgeon, and underwent an emergency operation lasting 12 hours. Tragically, when the anesthesia wore off after the surgery, she thrashed about wildly on the floor of a padded recovery stall as if still running in the race. Despite the efforts of numerous attendants, she broke the cast and another leg. The medical team, knowing that she would probably not survive more extensive surgery for the repair of two legs, euthanized her shortly afterwards. Her performance in the 1975 season earned her the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Three-Year-Old Filly. In 1976, she was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. There haven't been any match races run since.

Her breakdown and tragic death led to a public outcry for more humane treatment of racehorses. One result was that medications, such as Lasix for bleeding and corticosteroids for inflammation and pain management, came into common use in racehorses. While helping the horses in the short term, the increased use of medications at the track had a downside, as many horses were raced while injured. It can be argued that thoroughbreds are becoming more delicate as a result; racehorses today run only half as many starts before retirement as did their counterparts 50 years ago. Some of this effect is likely also due to breeding practices that select for horses likely to have short, brilliant careers―like Ruffian's―instead of the traditional racing career which might have lasted several years. Indeed, Ruffian's bloodline may be considered at least partly to blame for her broken leg; her sire, Reviewer, suffered three breakdowns.

Regardless, Ruffian herself may be regarded as one of racing's best and brightest. The Blood-Horse ranked Ruffian 35th in its list of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century. Though many believe her to be higher on the list. Secretariat's trainer once said "As God as my witness, she may be even better than Secretariat." She shattered all the records,and broke all of her opponent's hearts. Sports Illustrated included her as the only non-human on their list of the top 100 female athletes of the century, ranking her 53rd.

Ruffian is buried near the finish line in the infield at Belmont Park, her nose pointed towards the finish pole. It is often said, "she died on the lead." She is and will forever remain a hero to all of horse racing for the role she played in bringing people back to the track.


[edit] 2007 Movie
On June 9, 2007, the ABC television network aired the movie Ruffian, produced by ESPN and directed by Yves Simoneau, and starring Sam Shepard as Frank Whiteley.[1] Ruffian was also scheduled for DVD on June 12th, 2007. GO RUFFIAN!!