The Ruffian Cup. A race for fillies and mares of 3 yo and up over the marathon distance of 14 furlongs dirt<\/p>\n
It’s an honour to write a race named after such a great mare. <\/p>\n
Ruffian was born in 1972 in Kentucky, she was a tall, longlegged filly and a schoolexample of a racehorse.<\/p>\n
She began her racecareer at the age of 2 with winning her first race by 13 lengts, en passant breaking a track record. She won every race she ran as a 2yo untill late in the year when she suffered an injury and was given some time off to heal. She still got the honour of being chosen ‘2yo Filly Of the Year.’ <\/p>\n
Her racingstyle had become her trademark by then, she would rocket out of the gate and tolerate never a nose of another horse in front of her. She was never passed as a 2yo. She toyed a field in her first 3yo race over 6f as expected. She was gradually stretched out and start winning by even bigger margins. Her 4th race as a 3yo was over 9f and she trashed that field by 14 lengths gaining more lead with every step she made. <\/p>\n
The 3rd leg of the filly Tripple Crown would be the ultimate test for her where she needed to go 12 furlongs. She won also that with great easy, she took the lead and never looked back. She did it all, she won ALL her races, the Filly Triple Crown, from 5,5 furlong up to 12 furlong not one other horse has been able to pass her in any stage of the race. <\/p>\n
The only other thing to do was a match-race against the KY Derby winner Foolish Pleasure. Over 30,000 people came to see her take on the Champion 3yo colt. But what should have been a glorious duel ended up in witnessing one of the most cruel turns of faith, Ruffian broke down and in the following 12 hours vets were unable to save her life. The loss of this great champion filly was a sad day in the history of US horseracing. Thanks for naming this race after her!<\/p>\n
The Field:<\/p>\n
PP1 IN THE NAVY(GB) 54\/1
3yo Filly
IN THE WINGS(GB)-POLISH NAVY<\/p>\n
She is brought to Deleware by her owner\/trainer\/breeder Rharfo(NZ). At 54\/1 one tends to immidiately skip this filly, but that would be undeserving. She is a proven stayer, although only 3yo she already posted some 90+ over long races. Past 6 months she made 2 stakes entries and both failed miserably. But the good news is that those appearances where around an injury. 3 races backs she didn’t come well out the race and took 6 weeks to recover. Her first race after that was on a good track so she had a legimate excuse for that one as well. She proved to be in peak condition again by smashing an allowance LTO over 14f by 5 lenghts. It will be very tough to win this race, but personally i don’t rule out a placing for this filly.<\/p>\n
PP2 VIRILIO(GB) 7\/1
6yo Mare
DUBAI MILLENNIUM (GB)-PINE BLUFF<\/p>\n
This mare has 48 starts under her belt and is still in Stakes winning form. Trainer vineland is hoping for a huge effort in the autumn of her career. Downside is that she hasn’t raced in 7 weeks and that is a tad long between. She has an impressive 12 wins and 12 seconds from her starts, making it 50% top-2 finishes in her races. Her last 2 wins were on an off track, she seems to have a liking for that. She has never gone 14f in her races, so this distance will be new to her. Its hoping she can save enough energy to launch her closing kick.<\/p>\n
PP3 THIS LOVE 10\/1
3yo Filly
THUNDER GULCH-EASY GOER<\/p>\n
Nr 9 ranked filly in the 3yo long division, and that with only 3 wins. Mind you that 2 of those were stakes wins over todays distance and one was against the boys. Her career started a bit wobbly, but as soon as the distance were getting longer she came to life. Her last 4 races were over todays distance and she scored a solid 4\/2-1-0-1. Especially her last race was impressive against older colts, were she posted a 102 after a huge closing kick after her very slow start. The latter is also her weakest point: she tend to lose a lot of ground in the race. If she loses so much ground again she needs an eneormous 2nd half. But she already proven that. Trainer SDMF is a solid experienced trainer and will not have entered her if it was without chance.<\/p>\n
PP4 INCREDIBLE RIP 13\/1
3yo Filly
GONE WEST-SUMMER SQUALL<\/p>\n
Trainer tg1 brings his 3yo Stakes winning filly today. Another 3yo filly that seems to enjoy the longer distances. Most impressive feat was her 4th place in G1-Oaks over 10f. She backed that up with 2 easy stakes wins over todays distance and 12f. In her last race she was brought back to 10f but ran a 6th place after losing much ground. This was her first race against older mares. Today she is back to 14 furlong and that will suit her better I think as 10f. <\/p>\n
PP5 GATES OF FIRE(GB) 27\/1
4yo Filly
DIESIS(GB)-DEPUTY MINISTER<\/p>\n
One of the true outsiders of the field. She has run pretty good races in the past for her trainer sam812218, but lately her form isn’t very solid. Her trainer tried to waken her by running her a race on turf LTO, but she needs a huge bounce in form anyway. <\/p>\n
PP6 SACRILEGE 5\/1
5yo Mare
A.P. INDY-UNBRIDLED<\/p>\n
Deserving 2nd favorite of the race, this mare is a G1 winner on both dirt and turf, which is already unique. 14th ranked older mare for the longest category, she enjoys every race as long as its long. She has tuned up in a winning Stakes effort over todays distance and with her running style she can for sure surprise everybody like she has many times before. Trainer slwctyslw, runs under the colors of one of the top trainers in the sim chilcoat, already earned over $2 million with 5yo Sacrilege. She will making her 43th career appearance at the track and she seems as fresh as a youngster. <\/p>\n
PP7 BRANDY’S DREAM 21\/1
3yo Filly
AWESOME AGAIN-UNBRIDLED<\/p>\n
Trainer trifecta sends out Brandy’s Dream, stablemate of Like a Porpucine. The odds are obviously very influenced by the injury she suffered 2 races ago, but LTO she entered the track again with a winning prep in a small allowance. Another mare that depends on her spurt in the second part of the race. Her Stakes races were small fields so its a bit difficult to rate her at this level, but no doubt that she has room for improvement, and at 21\/1 also a nice place offer.<\/p>\n
PP8 MOCKINGBIRD 14\/1
3yo Filly
ATTICUS-KINGMAMBO<\/p>\n
Nearly $800,000 in the bank for this one, but practicly all won on turf. In her three dirt tries she never hit the board and cashed only one 5th place in a Gr1. This race being on dirt is not the most ideal condition for her, where on turf she scored a couple of Gr1 places. Last 2 races she got beaten severly and it looks like she is a bit off form. <\/p>\n
PP9 ESTROGEN 9\/5
4yo Filly
SADLER’S WELLS-PEINTRE CELEBRE (IRE)<\/p>\n
Trainer tnillson brings his stablestar as the favorite in. She is currently the 2nd ranked mare in the dirt long division for olderr mares and 3rd in the Turf classic, another versatile mare with G1 wins on both surfaces. She has only ran once over 14f and run second after having had a 9 length lead. Yes, we finally have a frontrunner here. Likely she will gun for the lead in this race aswell and will be able to walk away from the field. And she needs that, since the stretch isn’t her preferred part of the race. Most races she won, she won close after a huge lead and over less distance. Question is will she be able to handle the 14f good enough to hold off that peleton that will be hunting for her in the stretch. If Estrogen starts slowing down too fast and the others start flying she will be caught very quick. But if you she can shake the field off, she might have enough left in the tank to outrun them in the stretch.<\/p>\n
PP10 HAIL TO THE KING 13\/1
3yo Filly
KINGMAMBO-STORM BIRD<\/p>\n
2nd ranked turf long impressively bred filly, and therefore 22 ranked on dirt long. Amazing actually, 22nd, since she hasn’t won a race on dirt ever (4\/0-2-0) and none of those races were sensational. Unless she has made a complete turnover I don’t suddenly expect her to boom now. On turf its a Gr1 winner and a force to be reckoned with, but on dirt she isn’t the shadow of herself on turf.<\/p>\n
PP11 PRIDE OF TAZMANIA 14\/1
6yo Mare
A.P. INDY-CAHILL ROAD<\/p>\n
Trainer tazdevil from the bangsy-empire brings this veteran in the race. She is a lifetime stayer with her last win dated back week 2594 over todays distance. Her last 4 races are not of greatest quality, declining speedratings and not breaking the 90 barrier. It looks like her form got a bit lost, but this being her 17th start this year its normal she gets a bit tired. She has hit the board of most of her stakes races this year in smaller fields. She likes to run both well on turf and dirt but she needs a year best effort today to get a check<\/p>\n
PP12 VIOLENT STORM 10\/1
5yo Mare
ILLINOIS STORM-UNBRIDLED <\/p>\n
57th career start for this mare, and she won a Stakes in her 52th so she still competes at this level. She seems to enjoy the long dirts the most and had her prep race in a Stakes over 13f where she finished 4th after passing a lot of tiring horses. This race was a nice race and not as bad as the 12 length beaten suggest. A small check could be in reach for this tough mare.<\/p>\n
PP13 GOD OF WAR 13\/1
3yo Filly
STORM CAT-SEATTLE SLEW<\/p>\n
Another 3yo with a hesitant careerstart, but with the longing of distances seems to come alive. Best career effort was a 3rd place in a Gr3 over todays distance. Her last 2 starts were a bit dissapointing coming of that 3rd place, because she couldn’t launch her usual big closing kick. Today the circumstances are again identical as when ran 3rd and she will probably run a good race. There is still a lot of promise since she only raced 11 times. With her love for longer distances she will have a nice future. <\/p>\n
Good luck to everybody.<\/p>\n
Thanks you DelPenn for this day!<\/p>\n
Yochem<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Estrogen and Sacrlege lead fillies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}