It began as the race of the year when the two horses broke from the starting gate at New York's Belmont Park for the much-ballyhooed mile-and-a-quarter match race. The contest between the record-breaking three-year-old filly Ruffian, winner in all ten of her starts and holder of the filly's Triple Crown for 1975, and the Kentucky Derby-winning colt Foolish Pleasure was a perfect Him v. Her extravaganza for the 50,764 people at Belmont and for millions watching on CBS, which put up $350,000 to televise the event. Then, 3½ furlongs and some 35 seconds into the race, with Ruffian slightly ahead, there was a sharp snap. "Like a pistol shot," said the filly's jockey Jacinto Vasquez. Ruffian's right front ankle had cracked. The cheering faded as the afflicted horse pounded on, then slowed to a stop with the fragile sesamoid bones above the hoof completely shattered. Within nine hours Ruffian was dead, put down with the assent of her owners, Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Janney Jr. Ruffian's death came as an enormous blow to the racing fraternity. But for sportswriters and just plain enthusiasts, it was a beginning of controversy over the cause of the accident and the quality of medical treatment the stricken Ruffian received.
There were immediate charges that the track was unusually fast that day, and thus too hard for Ruffian's legs. Replied Track Superintendent Joe King vehemently: "The day of the race, the 3%-inch sandy loam surface was normal, and we had normal moisture conditions." Other observers felt that Ruffian's first match race placed her under unusual stress. Noted one racehorse owner, "When you figure that 1,125 Ibs are being carried on cannon bones as thick as broomsticks, it is a wonder that such an accident doesn't happen more often." However, another compelling hypothesis emerged days after the tragedy, when a film showed four pigeons flapping off from the track as the two horses approached, seeming to startle Ruffian. Vasquez doubts the thes ory: "We see those birds every day. Most horses don't bother with them. No, this was a freaky accident. If she had shied away from the birds, I would have felt it."
The medical treatment given the huge filly caused more comment. Immediately after Ruffian, her foreleg in an air-inflated splint, was moved to her trainer's barn, a mob of doctors, track officials and hangers-on descended.
Questions arose over the drugs that Veterinary Dr. Alex Harthill administered, which, some charge, worsened the horse's physical condition during surgery—though perhaps any sedation might have. Harthill's presence in itself was controversial since he does not have a New York license arid had been disciplined by the Kentucky state racing commission for giving an illegal painkiller to one of the 1968 Derby contestants.
The decision for a quick operation also raised doubts.