Ruffian - Thoroughbred
- morethanpethk
- Jul 24
- 5 min read
HIGHLIGHTS
Foaled April 17, 1972 - Died July 7, 1975 (3yo）
The Incident: July 6, 1975 (at 3yo) - US
The Incident: Ruffian's right front ankle was gashed open & both proximal sesamoid bones were broken caused by a bad step in race.
The Leading Surgeon: Dr. William O. Reed and Dr. Edward Keefer
The Outcome: A Failure - Ruffian struggled and smashed her injured leg after coming out of anaesthesia, and in panic state, the veterinary team couldn’t proceed another surgery, the horse was put down finally.
ABOUT THE HORSE
Ruffian was a big filly, stood 16.1 hands high, the most imposing juvenile filly. The filly was born to race, she used her early speed, size and strength to intimidate competition She had won ten consecutive races at 2yo, she was in the lead at every point of call in every race she ever ran and set new stakes records in each of the eight stakes races she won. Ruffian was called Queen of the Racetrack, was crowned 2-year-old Filly of the Year in 1974.
The starter in the gate described Ruffian as’she wanted to run and if you let her, she’d charge the gate before it opened. If she saw racetrack, she wanted at it. Ruffian was built “like a bull”, and looked “like a stallion, not a filly.”
Because of her slender legs, she became prone to fracture. In her medical record, Ruffian sustained a hairline fracture of her right hind ankle, which was thought to have occurred during a morning gallop in September 1974. But she could made herself a champion after recovery. In her 3-yo season, Ruffian was undefeatedin her first ten races, and set stakes records.
THE INCIDENT – 6th July 1975
On her 11th race, the Great Match Race competing with the colt Foolish Pleasure at Belmont Park. As soon as the gate sprang open, Ruffian ducked in a bit and lightly brushed her left side against the gate. It slightly affected the start.
Shortly after the first quarter mile, the two horses and riders were in all-out duel going at each other. Ruffian’s jockey suddenly heard a loud pop, she was off stride. He tried to pull her up, but she still tried to finish the race, pulverizing her sesamoids, ripping the skin of her fetlock and tearing her ligaments until her hoof was flopping uselessly. Video later showed Ruffian had been startled by a bird in the infield and a misstep resulted.
THE SAVING EFFORT – by Dr. William O. Reed and Dr. Edward Keefer
The team opposed to euthanizing Ruffian right on the track, because she was worth of saving and surviving. Dr. Gilman immediately tried to keep her up by putting on a blow up cast on her leg. Then the team loaded her onto the ambulance,sent her directly to Dr. Reed’s hospital nearby.
Ruffian looked scared coming off the ambulance and was wobbly. She was weary after expending much energy in her racing, dehydrated and she had almost died before reaching the operating table. It was a desperate situation.
A veterinarian team and an orthopaedic surgeon proceeded an emergency operation. They noticed that her right ankle showed protruding small bones, and copious amounts of blood, it was contaminated with dirt from the race track.
The operating room was about 35 feet by 35 feet, the recovery room which was adjoined to the operating room and separated by a hinged door. Ruffian was then put on the operation table on her left side, her legs was strapped on the operating table after she was anesthetized, with her right front injured leg, propped up. They put her leg into ice buckets and stop the bleeding, and gave her sedatives and coagulants.
But she was going deeper into shock, and getting more and more worked up. The inside of the blow up cast ruptured from the pressure of the blood inside. Another shot of sedative was ordered by Dr Gilman and put on while waiting for Dr Prendergast’s radiographs. Finally, the radiographs confirmed what all about the bone injury, bothproximal sesamoid boneswere broken.
With the effect sedatives, Ruffian was trying to lie down which is not what they wanted at that point. Dr. Harhill and the team were trying to keep her up. They gave her antibiotics and more sedatives but she continued on a downhill path. Total of three heavy shots of sedative were injected. But all these didn’t help to improve, the situation looked so bleak.
The surgery took more than two hours. It was not an easy ordeal for this champion racehorse even anesthetized. They were able to repair the shattered sesamoid. The team adjusted the operating table tilted, Ruffian was slid in a controlled manner on her left side to the recovery room.
Dr. Keefer built a special type of shoe with a brace attached to it and the actual cast was affixed to that.The shoe and brace allowed to bear some weight of the horse and give her the stability to get up following the surgery (slings or advanced techniques not available like the ones used today).
When Ruffian coming out of anaesthesia, she looked uncomfortable and frustrated, did not like her surroundings. She tried to get up but couldn’t. She quickly became agitated and kept trying.she worked up into almost a panic state. The team tried to calm and sedate her (the drugs available back then were limited) but it didn’t work. Eventually she started kicking and thrashing and things became very violent.
She thrashed about wildly on the floor of a padded recovery stall. Despite the efforts of numerous attendants, she began spinning in circles on the floor. As she flailed about with her legs, she repeatedly knocked the heavy plaster cast against her own elbow until the elbow was smashed to bits. All the nails in the special shoe were pulled out, the cast slipped.
It was obvious she had damaged all the repairs that were made. The elbow on the leg was also damaged. and as it became dislodged it ripped open her foreleg all over again. There was intensive swelling and haemorrhaging.
Veterinarians knew her shocked system could not tolerate another operation, then she was euthanized on 7th July 1975. Usually it takes almost 30 seconds to euthanize a horse. Her rapid heartbeat and adrenaline sped up the process to about 5 to 10 seconds.
Per Dr. Prendergast, he wished they had more drugs at their disposal. Unfortunately, they didn’t, what they had wasn’t working.
THE OUTCOME
The race and Ruffian’s injury captured national attention. Ruffian was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1976.
Ranked as the top filly or mare in the list of top 100 American racehorses of the 20th century and number 35 overall by The Blood-Horse Magazine.
Strides have been made in the last decades in treating horses, including development of better antibiotics, the aluminium splint and improvements in understanding laminitis.
Source: Past The Wire
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