The remains of Ruffian, the Hall of Fame racehorse whose triumphant run in the 1970s was tragically cut short by an injury in a notorious race that led to her being euthanized, were reburied on Thursday in Kentucky, the filly’s birthplace.
Ruffian is considered perhaps the greatest female thoroughbred in history and went undefeated in 10 starts, setting stakes or track records in most of them. She had been buried at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., since her ill-fated race on July 6, 1975, when the 3-year-old filly raced Foolish Pleasure, the winner of that year’s Kentucky Derby. Ruffian shattered her right front ankle in the race, and she was later put down by injection and buried in Belmont’s infield, 70 yards beyond the finish line.
The race and Ruffian’s injury captured national attention, and her burial site had for decades been a place to honor one of the most celebrated racing horses in history.
The New York Racing Association said in a statement that Ruffian was buried on Thursday at Claiborne’s Marchmont Cemetery in Paris, Ky., a final resting place “of numerous legends of the sport,” and a location that will “dramatically expand public access to her gravesite, in contrast to Belmont Park, where Ruffian’s site was clearly visible from the grandstand but…
