Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Amateur movie with Big budget

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Horse racing is part of my life! As a huge race fan and handicapper I was so glad that ESPN funded this movie! Ruffian was the greatest filly ever to step on to a race track, bar none! This film did portray how good she was and did tell the true story of this race horse. Thought the cast was good and I liked the fact the movie was about the horse and the horses relationship with its connections. NOT! Like Secretariat! Which was a good movie, but! Secretariat was more about Penny Chenery-Tweety then it was this generations greatest race horse (male horse that is). If you actually looked at Ruffian's past performance sheet is all 1's ! Always in the lead and never gave it up.. The only time you see a 2 the tragic match race that killed her. Ruffian did not have good family lines when it came to being perfectly sound.. her Dam (Shenanigans) had bone issues in her front two legs and unfortunately that passes down..One thing they did not (or at least I didn't see) was a HUGE omission from the pubic as to why she broke down. If you look at the actual race footage there was a seagull on the track and as the two horses raced closer to the stupid bird the bird flew away. The footage reviled that Ruffian actually was looking at the bird as she races and had one bad step and it as over. Many Many people believe that if the at stupid bird was not there Ruffian would have won the race against Foolish Pleasure and may have had a massive career in front of her.. Will never know! Good movie. Heartbreaking. And one of my favourite scenes was right at the end when you see Frank Whitley look at the new 2 year olds being taken out of the carts. You see that look on his face that he knew he had one in a million horse a year earlier in Ruffian and there will never be one like her again. This is very true in horse racing!! Its like winning the lottery.. One in a million chance that you get a horse that can defy belief .. Thats whats so great about the sport! 30,000 foals are born each year. 20 make it to the Kentucky Derby at 3 years old and only one out of those 30,000 will go down in history.

bsmith's comment wasn't correct, "several hundred thousand and hundreds of reporters and editors" makes NO sense lol.This film is good and i did enjoy it but it was very sad and definitely not for the faint hearted. The bit where the filly break her foot isn't very pleasant to watch. I have only seen it once but would watch it again. I do love horse riding and I would like to be a kind jockey, so i am really into these films. I can only watch it on youtube so if anyone knows any FREE sites to watch films on please let me know. There are some good parts in this film like where they do try to save the filly instead of putting her straight to sleep.

I realize the horse who played Ruffian probably doesn't look like her and that Claiborne Farms is a very upscale operation. To me, however, the story is about heart, both in humans and horses, and how that binds them together and makes them great. In my opinion, Sam Shepard did a great job as Frank Whitely. I don't know enough about horse racing to pick out all the little factual flaws but to me this is a really inspiring story. The scenes are beautiful. It also captures the feel of the 1970s, at least as I remember them. The scenes where Ruffian broke down are really tragic, and it was also sad to see her in the hospital trying to recover. I liked the supporting cast quite a lot, too. To the limited extent I've been around horses, they seemed like horse people and the kind of folks who really love horses. I would recommend this movie to anyone.

I was and never have been an avid horse race watcher,but when I was ten years old,while looking for something to watch on television,I stumbled across a race consisting of two horses,one of which was named Ruffian.I remember the name because of the tragic event that took place and recall very little else about it.I remember Ruffian being badly injured and eventually having to be put down.I remember thinking how sad this was,and over the years,having heard next to nothing about it,have recalled it from time to time over the next thirty or so years.When I saw that a movie was made about her and that tragic day,I had to see it.Details that had been vague to me were brought to light.If the story told here was accurate,this was obviously a much loved,very majestic animal destined for greatness.To think that her life was cut short by some insignificant,over-hyped battle of the sexes mishmash is not only sad,it's infuriating.If anything good has come from that day,it's that challenge races no longer exist,thank goodness.