Here is an exerpt from an article on RA vs. Ruffian.
Ruffian provided the racing world a standard for all fillies to match with 10 consecutive victories until breaking down in the famed match race vs. Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure. She broke or equaled numerous track records, and is still widely considered the fastest filly ever.
Where does Rachel Alexandra fit on this list? It’s way too early to compare her to Ruffian, but the Preakness winner easily belongs with the other four and has a chance to be number two by year’s end.
I think a race between these two would be my dream race. Who do you think is better?
Rachel Alexandra our new Ruffian? Not quite. Her dark, lean, impressive frame may give us a touch of déjà vu, as may her recent stakes victories, but she isn’t the gripping heroine that Ruffian proved to be. Granted, her 3-year-old season isn’t over, and any number of things can happen. At best, Rachel Alexandra is close to what Ruffian was. But for the filly who swiped the Triple Crown’s second jewel from a colt many thought had a likely shot at winning all three, close may well be just enough. Her next race will be the Mother Goose at Belmont Park on June 27. Could be another step for her to try catching up to the Great Ruffian.
A dream for sure… I believe RA is a fine filly who very well may turn out to be the next great filly, but we need to wait till she beats someone of some kind of proven quality before we can really compare her to the greats. And, lets not forget Zenyatta, she’s amazing too. Really, it’s hard to compare when there’s nothing to compare. Ruffian was in a class of her own. Interested in seeing how RA does in the Mother Goose June 27TH at Belmont…stay tuned.
I love both of them but I’d have to say Ruffian. She was just so amazing when she ran. Don’t get me wrong though, Rachel Alexandra is a legendary filly in the making and is an amazing athlete like Ruffian was. You just can’t really compare them though. Another one that is a filly that I love is Zenyatta. She is such a good athlete like Ruffian and Rachel Alexandra. Although, I do think Ruffian was better in her races as a 3 year old, we still have a lot of potential races that Rachel Alexandra will prove she is unlike the rest.
please dont compare the great RUFFIAN to rachel alexandra. rachel alexandra is a great filly, but doesnt even compare to the undefeated Ruffian or even the undefeated mare zenyatta! best fillies/mares ever go in this order
1. Ruffian
2.Personal Ensign
3.Azeri
4.Zenyatta
5.im being nice maybe rachel alexandra
Greatness isn’t determined by winning a couple of races in the spring of your 3 year old season. Winning the Preakness is fantastic… Rachel is a fantastic horse… but that one win doesn’t mean that she’s automatically catapulted to the top of the list of the greatest female horses ever. There’s a lot more that she needs to do before she’s considered great. Until the Preakness, Rachel has raced very mediocre horses. Her Oaks win looked fantastic, but that’s because she was running against a bunch of crappy horses who didn’t have a shot in the world. Granted, Ruffian also was racing against a bunch of nobody fillies. However, the difference is that Ruffian was setting records in every start as she was winning by 10 or 15 lengths, so there was at least an objective measurement showing that she was for real. Rachel is winning and her times are good, but it’s not the same as Ruffian who broke a record in every race.
I’d agree that by the end of the year, Rachel could prove that she belongs high on the list, but unless she beats older males in the Classic, I’m not willing to move her above Ruffian.
At this point, Rachel is great, has fantastic potential, but remains below proven horses like Ruffian, Zenyatta, Winning Colors, Personal Ensign, Genuine Risk, Azeri, etc.
In a race between Ruffian and Rachel, Ruffian would win of course. Throw Zenyatta into the mix and I think that the early pace would be so fast that Zenyatta would blow by Rachel, but have a heck of a battle to the wire with a mare like Ruffian who was absolutely determined to stay in front no matter the cost.
Ruffian was considered one of the greatest racehorses of all time, male or female. Rachel is an excellent filly but doesn’t belong in the same sentence as Ruffian.
Lucien Laurin, Secretariat’s trainer, said he thought Ruffian was better than Secretariat. On the other hand, Secretariat would’ve mopped the floor with Rachel considering his Preakness was around 2 seconds faster than hers (and she was all out while he looked like he was having a pleasant warm-up).
And finally, Ruffian won races from 5.5 furlongs to 12 furlongs. Rachel looked to me like she was pooping out at the end of the Preakness so I don’t think she could even win, much less tie a record at 12 furlongs like Ruffian.
Whoa there on the “best ever” decision, partner. Ruffian was a meteor, very brilliant during the short time she was around; and Rachel Alexandra has made all the right moves to date, but there are a whole lot of fillies and mares to consider before we go awarding “best ever”.
We’ve had an undefeated Breeder’s Cup winner in Personal Ensign, who beat the Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors in the Distaff in one of the most memorable races you’re ever likely to see.
We have brilliance that met its end too soon in the undefeated filly Landaluce, who died of Colitis X just as she was starting to demonstrate her greatness.
We have some truly great European fillies and mares, including Sceptre, who won 4 of England’s five classic races– 1000 Guineas, 2000 Guineas, St. Leger, and Oaks, winning the Oaks the DAY AFTER she finished 4th in the Derby!!!!! And more modern greats like Allez France, Dahlia, Pawneese.
We have the great Australian mares Sunline and Makybe Diva.
I think it’s invidious to suggest that there are not and never have been any better racemares than Ruffian or Rachel Alexandra, not without presenting some cogent arguments in support.
….And let us not forget that even now we can’t say Rachel Alexandra is the best filly or mare in training. Not with an undefeated monster like Zenyatta waiting to take her on.
Considering that I watched Ruffian’s ill fated match race and the tragic events that followed it when I was just eleven years old, I still feel that she was by far the best of the two, and one of the best of her generation. I only wish that her OWNERS had displayed some COMMON SENSE, and had allowed her to retire and be a mom instead of running her in that stupid match race. Ruffian DIDN’T NEED TO RUN- she’d already won everything that she needed to. But her owners bowed to public pressure and allowed their desire for fame and glory ( not to mention money, as the purse for that match was well over a million dollars- a fortune in today’s terms) to override their better judgement and common sense- and it cost Ruffian HER LIFE. If they had chosen to retire her when they should have, we would ALL now be enjoying watching her grandchildren and great grandchildren run today, instead of remembering and dreaming about what might have been. I will always fault the Janeys for their poor judgement, even more than I do her trainer, Whiteley. Frank Whiteley was a BROKEN MAN after Ruffian died- he never knew peace again. I shudder when I think that it wouldn’t take much for Steve Asmussen to end up getting the same kind of treatment- and he WILL if anything happens to Rachel A, you can bet on THAT. People blamed Whiteley for Ruffian’s death, and both his career and professional reputation suffered- and so did the personal and professional reputations of everyone else who was connected to that filly in any way. Ruffian’s groom, Dan Williams, paid the ULTIMATE PRICE- he drank himself to DEATH over her, or so the reports I have read have indicated. Should anything happen to Rachel A, we will undoubtedly see history repeat itself- and another group of people will pay a terrible price for something which could and should be prevented in the first place.
Rachel A is a brilliant filly, no doubt- and she gives me the chills at times, because her story paralells Ruffian’s in a lot of ways. She’s now owned by Jess Jackson, who is one of the co-founders of the Kendall-Jackson winery, and he is a LOT like the Janeys, who owned Ruffian. Like the Janeys, money is no object for this man- although he greatly enjoys winning more of it, in whatever way he can. To him, Rachel A is a commodity and an investment- I doubt he even sees her as a living creature. Jackson chose to run Rachel A in the Preakness because he thought it would be good for the sport and for the public- never mind whether or not it would be good for his horse, or even fair to her. Luckly, she won- although not easily. Another two strides, and Mine That Bird would have caught her and passed her- she was struggling at the end of the race. That’s what makes me doubt that she can really win a longer race, such as one which is the length of the Belmont. Jackson is probably aware of this too, and wisely decided not to enter the filly in the Belmont. It was a good choice- and it’s worth remembering that the filly’s original owners NEVER INTENDED to race her against the colts- that’s why she was never even nominated for any of the Triple Crown events. No, I don’t think that Rachel A is even close to being the filly that Ruffian was- even though I get a sense of deja vu every time I see her race or hear about her. I only hope that she manages to LIVE LONG ENOUGH to become a broodmare. If she does, then we will get to enjoy her offspring. If not, then maybe whatever happens to her will finally be enough to get the powers that be to wake up and smell the coffee where the sport of racing is concerned, and we’ll finally start to see some REAL REFORMS being made.
That’s just my thinking on this…and before you start with the thumbs down or the abuse reports, remember that I have a right to my beliefs. Racing is a money racket, and it always has been- but in recent years, it’s gone from a relatively innocent pasttime to one of the most BLOODTHIRSTY sports in existence. I’m TIRED, and SICK TO DEATH, of watching good or great horses run themselves into the ground and DIE, so that people can be entertained for a few minutes every spring. I love racing- don’t get me wrong- but enough is enough. For all their talk about how they’ve certified the tracks and banned certain drugs, the powers that be who run this sport STILL WILL NOT FACE REALITY and admit the truth, which is that these animals are just TOO YOUNG to be doing what is demanded of them. Until they FINALLY get around to doing this ( if indeed they ever will, which is doubtful), we will keep seeing repeats of the Ruffian, Barbaro, Pine Island, Go For Wand, Union City, Prarie Bayou, Charismatic, Eight Belles, and the other NUMEROUS TRAGEDIES again and again. It wouldn’t take much to stop these horrendous tragedies- just the application of some common sense, and a recognition of the fact that the horses need a chance to GROW UP and mature before they are raced. Ruffian was a victim of this kind of thinking- and so were all the other horses which have died in preventable accidents over the last 30 plus years. I remember reading an article once some years ago, which asked whether or not Ruffian died in vain. I think she DID, because racing hasn’t changed much, if at all, since her death. Yes, there have been advances in medical technology, and we can sometimes save horses now, but it’s not enough. Greed is still the driving force behind racing- and as long as that’s true, horses are going to continue breaking down and dying at far too young an age.
Ruffian is way better than RA i wouldn’t even compare those two! RA is pretty good but she has better fillies in front of her, like Zenyatta and the great ruffian( of course ) and RA may look like Ruffian but, Ruffian has a stronger heart.