Ruffian Movie

Below is a short review and commentary from the Orlando Sentinel

Fresh off the Barbaro tragedy of 2006, ABC brings us another sad horse tale from a different era when it airs Ruffian on June 9.

For those of you too young to remember the battle-of-the-sexes match race between Foolish Pleasure and Ruffian on July 6, 1975, the event came to an abrupt end when the filly broke down on the backstretch at Belmont Park. If you were watching that day, then you remember it was hard to watch as the ambulance drove off the track, knowing the great filly would likely not make it through the night.

The ESPN production moves along at a pretty good clip and brings back some of that emotion, but there's really nothing compelling revealed about what took place behind the scenes. Outside of a nice performance by Sam Shepard as trainer Frank Whitley, it's pretty mundane. A shorter documentary would've worked better. [Orlando Sentinel]