I was 12 years old when Ruffian broke down in her match race. Saddest thing I had ever seen happen in the horse world. As a young horse crazy girl I was obsessed with Secretariat and Ruffian. I read everything I coud find on them but I have to say that when Bill Nack said that he believed a pigeon scared her and caused her to take a bad step I was shocked. I had never heard that before. In the film it does look like that is exactly what happened. Is this a consensus amongst the racing crowd?
I know an old timer veterinarian who was actually at the match race and he said the same thing. He said it appeared that a bird flew in front of her before she broke down. I’ve watched the clip of her breakdown many times and there are birds flying around but it’s hard to tell if one flew in front of her. It would be interesting to hear what her jockey saw beforehand. Interesting nonetheless.
A bird flew low across the track. It was replayed many times over. A sad day in racing. She was a great filly.
Her sire, Reviewer, had three different serious injuries racing (he had fractures at 2, 3, and a career-ender at four, and finally died after breaking a leg in turnout), suggesting she didn’t come from especially-durable bloodlines. I don’t care how well a horse does on the track, that many injuries would make me think twice about the risk/reward of breeding to him.
That’s very interesting, thanks Danceronice. Like with Eightbelles, and with Barbaro, when horses have catastrophic breakdowns for no reason, there has to be fault in the breeding.
Ruffian was a very good filly. It’s sad that her sire was probably the cause of her breakdown, and not the errant bird.
Most of the theories I’ve read emphasized the breeding. I’ve also heard the start. She did have a bad start in the match, broke sideways and slammed her shoulder into the gate leaving. Some think that she did a little damage there that worsened in running on it a few furlongs and that she was trying to shift her weight right to compensate. Banged left shoulder on the gate, broke right front leg. I didn’t see her match live but have seen replays. You have to get a head-on replay of the start to see her come out sideways and whack herself.
The one that sticks with me was Go for Wand. I was watching TV live. I will never forget her sommersaulting and then getting up and limping on to the wire. She had no history of any issues that I’ve ever read, just put her foot down wrong in the heat of battle. And then the TV folks kept replaying it . . . Very clear and detailed shots of the wreck, of course, given that it happened in the stretch. Not like the usual distance views from a faraway camera of something on the backstretch or far turn.
Or perhaps an aligning of all of the things , a bad break injuring or at least stinging her shoulder causing her to run less efficiently , putting more strain on the opposite limb while she tried to protect the injured side…a bird startling her causing a miss step on a leg already under more strain then usual because of the injury to the left shoulder. Her breeding predisposing her to longer lighter less robust bone , failing her at a pivotal moment. Couple in a temperament not conducive to being quiet or sedentary and perhaps that day she was doomed no matter which of the many theory’s it really was.
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That’s very interesting, thanks Danceronice. Like with Eightbelles, and with Barbaro, when horses have catastrophic breakdowns for no reason, there has to be fault in the breeding.
Ruffian was a very good filly. It’s sad that her sire was probably the cause of her breakdown, and not the errant bird.[/QUOTE]
Eight Belles was crossed several times on RaN, who was not sound (via Mr. P, who was not sound.) Barbaro otoh has no serious inbreeding to bad blood and probably did just take a weird step, possibly having done something breaking through the gate before the start. Some horses do take a bad step, but Ruffian and Eight Belles were the result of breeding for names, pretty looks, and fast sprints (like sales yearlings) instead of wondering if multiple crosses involving stallions who couldn’t hold up to racing was maybe a bad idea.
Ruffian was a homebred, from a family that has been in the game for generations. The Janney’s are Phipps cousins and have always taken a long view. They are not breeding for “page appeal” and the fact that they have bred racehorses from generations of their fillies is evidence. They are still breeding from this family, including Orb who whose 4th dam is Ruffian’s 3/4 sister.
Ruffian had 3 crosses of the extremely stout and sound Discovery and 2 more of Sir Gallahad. This is the classic breeding pattern of sending stouter mares to speedier stallions. Bold Ruler (owned by a Phipps) was the most successful sire of his era and was at the time of Ruffian’s conception, passing the baton to his sons.
Honestly, Reviewer probably was far to brittle, but he was a Claiborne horse and I’m sure that the Janneys, as long time clients of the farm wanted to support him.
Which is as stupid as now taking colts who can’t make it to three sound and breeding them. A horse breaks down as many times as Reviewer did, it shouldn’t matter who owns him.
