Ruffian was a mediocre filly

[tector]

So says Braulio Baeza:

Braulio Baeza, the jockey who rode Foolish Pleasure in 1975, had raced fillies against Ruffian before. “Mediocre filly,” he recalled in a phone interview Friday. Her victories necessitated a lead, he said, and he had ridden in match races before, so he kicked his heels, cracked his whip and flipped Ruffian’s role.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/sp...ectations.html