TVG just showed a replay of Ruffian's CCA Oaks, which was at 12f, like the Belmont, in which she equalled the stakes record. Ruffian wasn't really bred for 12f; her two noted half-brothers Icecapade and Buckpasser were milers at best and her sire Reviewer was more of the same. But she held a constant two-length lead for the last quarter mile over Equal Change, a filly who was bred for 12f or more (by Arts and Letters-Fairness, by Cavan, from the family of Assault and Man o' War). And Vasquez never resorted to the whip, hand urging all the way.
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