Two fillies that top this columnist’s personal list
Ruffian, Personal Ensign provided many moments of brilliance
I am often asked about my favorites in the racing world, and today I am taking the opportunity to write about two great fillies that occupy the very top spots.
Ruffian — even her name is perfect — was a big black daughter of the Bold Ruler stallion Reviewer out of a mare named Shenanigans, whose father was the one and only Native Dancer.
Bred by Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Janney Jr., she was trained by the incomparable Frank Whiteley Jr.
Ruffian won her first 10 of 11 career starts by an average of 8 ¼ lengths. Her career opener came at Belmont Park on May 22, 1974 and she scored by 15 lengths.
Ruffian took the lead at the start of the 5 ½-furlong maiden race and never looked back. And that was the story for the rest of her career; no filly ever had the lead in a race with Ruffian.
In her next three starts she won the Fashion Stakes at Belmont, the Astoria Stakes at Aqueduct, and the Sorority Stakes at Monmouth Park.
Ruffian’s fifth start came in the Spinaway Stakes on August 23 at Saratoga, and anyone there that day will never forget the performance. She won by nearly 13 lengths and stopped the timer in an incredible 1:08 3/5 for 6 furlongs.
The Spinaway, which is the oldest stakes for 2-year- old fillies in the United States, had been run at 6 furlongs since 1923.
In 47 previous races at the distance, the fastest Spinaway was that of the magnificent Numbered Account, who was clocked in 1:09 4/5 in 1971.
An old rule of thumb in comparing times is that a fifth of a second equals one length.
Using that, Ruffian was five lengths better than Numbered Account, and a pole better than many other distinguished winners of the race at 6 furlongs.
It was a stunning performance by a 2-year- old filly, better by far than the Spinaway victories of Hall of Fame members Top Flight, Cicada, Affectionately, Moccasin and La Prevoyante.
Although Ruffian’s season came to an end in the Spinaway, she had done enough to earn the Eclipse Award as champion juvenile filly.
In 1975, Ruffian swept the New York filly triple crown when those races really meant something.
She won the Acorn at one mile, the Mother Goose at 1 1/8 miles, and the Coaching Club American Oaks at 1 ½ miles.
Fifteen days after the Coaching Club American Oaks, she suffered a fatal injury in a match race against that year’s Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure.
Personal Ensign never lost in a career of 13 races during 1986-1988.
Bred and owned by Ogden Phipps, she was trained by the ever insightful Shug McGaughey
Personal Ensign was by Private Account out of Grecian Banner, by Hoist the Flag.
When she came to Saratoga for the Whitney Handicap in 1988, she was unbeaten in nine starts and would face older males Gulch and King’s Swan, the former a two- time winner of the Metropolitan Handicap.
Personal Ensign was a survivor of the highest order, overcoming a broken left pastern as a 2-year- old that required an operation and five screws to stabilize her leg.
“With what she has overcome she is absolutely amazing,” McGaughey told me a couple days before the Whitney.
She dominated the Whitney on a sloppy track that was not her favorite going.
The last race of her career came in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, when she caught Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors in the very last jump on another wet track she did not like.
You had to see it to believe it, and it was considered by many as the most thrilling moment in racing history.
GALLOPING OUT
This is my final weekly column for this newspaper. Thank you for being on this enjoyable journey with me since I began in 1979.
Keep your love of the noble thoroughbred, and its history in Saratoga Springs.