When Ruffian was running, I was just starting to get serious about racing. I still have a lot of old DRFs from the 70s, but none with her in them. I think the Ragozin folks say she wasn’t as fast as her reputation, but I vaguely remember the PPs of some of her opposition at 2. Some of the horses she was crushing were crushing other fields until they met her. To me, that’s a pretty good indication of just how ridiculously good she was. At 3, she was just as dominant, but I’m less sure about the quality of competition. I know she didn’t face Sarsar who was another pretty good filly at the time in the East. I think they might have had the same connections or were related in some way and they were kept apart.
She was so ridiculously fast and dominant I think she has to be on the short list of great fillies, but you never know if a horse that starts out that brilliantly will keep developing or plateau unless they keep running until at least 4 and take on the very best.
__________________
"Unlearning is the highest form of learning"
Last edited by classhandicapper; 11-25-2022 at 10:25 AM.
|