Everywhere in life there are lessons that can be learned. Lessons you can learn from experiences, from people, and from other peoples experiences. I would like to share with you today a story about a horse named Ruffian. You can decide what if anything you want to learn from this amazing story of the purest kind of Champion.
Lets just start with this fact…..Ruffian was a filly, female race horse, which in itself was, and is, unusual. She was a triple tiara winner, which is the female version of a triple crown winner. Ruffian was undefeated for the first 10 races of her career. She was ahead at every point, in every race. No horse she raced against was ever in front of her. She set new records in each of the 8 stakes races she entered. In of the races she won, the Sorority Stakes, where she set a record, she was racing on a freshly popped splint. Not a serious injury, but one that would take the edge of most horses. She was unaffected.
She then entered the Spineway. The morning of the race her trainers found her food was left untouched. They soon discovered it was because she had a hairline fracture in her hind leg. She raced anyways, and not only won, but set a track record.
She was affectionatly nicknamed the “Queen of Fillies”.
In Ruffian’s eleventh and final race, at Belmont Park, she was in a match race (only 2 horses head to head) against that years Kentucky Derby Winner “Foolish Pleasure”. The “Great Match” was heavily anticipated and had an estimated 50,000 in attendance, and another 20 million TV viewers. Both horses had the same jockey, Jacinto Vasquez. He chose to ride Ruffian over Foolish Pleasure because he felt she was the better of the 2 horses.
When Ruffian left the starting gate, she hit her shoulder hard on the gate before straightening herself. She was ahead by a nose for the first quarter mile. Just over 1 furlong later she was ahead by a half a length when both sesamoid bones in her right leg snapped. The jockey tried to make her stop, but she kept running. She continued running as her sesamoids were pulverized, her skin on her fetlock and all her ligaments tore, and her hoof flopped uselessly. Her jockey could not stop her. She continued to try to finish the race. She was immediately attended to by 4 veterinarians in a 3 hour surgery to repair the extensive damage. When she began to come out of anestesia, she thrashed around in circles on the floor because her mind was still trying to win the race. She was still “running”. She was still competing so hard, that she shattered the cast that was on her freshly repaired injury, completely undoing all the repairs and also shattering her elbow like ice dropped on the floor. They could not get her to settle down and stop racing, and she was continuing to injure herself, so they finally had to put her down.
All but one of Ruffian’s record remain unbroken. She is buried near a flag pole at Belmont with her nose pointed toward the finish line. There is even a movie made in her honor “Ruffian”.
Although I do not intend for you to get the message that your bodies are not important to listen to, there is something here to be said. There is nothing that can overcome the heart of a champion. Ruffian, had that. It is her legacy.
What will your legacy be?
NCVC 16-1 