A little book from the well-respected racing writer William Nack. More about what the great racing filly Ruffian symbolized, rather than a biography in the tradition of Nack's own "Secretariat: Making of a Champion". Nack alternates between poetic passages about Ruffian's appearance, personality, and blazing speed and angry, cynical reflections on the falsity of the results of match races and breeding Thoroughbreds for speed at the expense of soundness. The book is a very quick read that provides plenty of food for thought about the state and traditions of horse racing.

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