Predictable 'Ruffian' never hits full stride

ABC's "Ruffian" offers a touching, if undeveloped, portrait of the racehorse who captured hearts and headlines across America in the 1970s.

The made-for-television movie chronicles the lightning-fast filly and two of her greatest admirers, trainer Frank Whiteley (Sam Shepard) and sports journalist Bill Nack (Frank Whaley) . Whiteley and Nack follow Ruffian through victory after victory en route to her 1975 Filly Triple Crown. But when fans clamor for Ruffian to race a colt, Whiteley agrees to a battle-of-the-sexes showdown that ends in tragedy for his prize horse.

"Ruffian," which premieres tonight at 9, follows predictable sports-movie conventions. The champion horse faces tougher and tougher competition, eventually leading to a one-on-one race against her only worthy rival, 1975 Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure .

In this final race, with 20 million television viewers watching, she collapses along the opening stretch of the Belmont Park track. In the next scene, on the emergency room floor, her legs churn like she's trying to finish the race. Surgery fails to mend the injury, and Whiteley is forced to euthanize his filly, leaving forever unanswered whether Ruffian could have outrun Foolish Pleasure.

Other than its conclusion, "Ruffian" lacks tension. True to made-for-TV-movie form, the dialogue is stale and the characters are one-dimensional. You could sum up each major figure in one word: Whiteley is the curmudgeon, Nack is the newshound, jockey Jacinto Vasquez (Vladimir Diaz) is the lackey, and Ruffian's owners Stuart and Barbara Janney (Nicholas Pryor and Christina Belford) are the socialites. None of these characters change or grow one iota during the film.

The other problem with "Ruffian" is that its star, the horse, is too perfect. The filly wins all of her races without hitting full stride. Nack describes her as the single greatest-looking horse he has ever seen. ("She was built like a watch," he says, "like a drawing by DaVinci.") It's difficult to care about an athlete who doesn't have to struggle to win, which is why the film lacks drama until the final scene.

Ironically, there is drama surrounding "Ruffian," but it's off screen. On Monday, the real-life Whiteley and Vasquez filed suit against ABC's parent company, the Walt Disney Co., for alleged trademark infringement and misrepresentation of their characters. In the lawsuit, they allege that Nack exaggerated his relationship with Ruffian's team in order to make himself a more central character in the story.

ESPN Productions, a Disney subsidiary involved in the film, issued a statement saying the claims were "without merit." The lawyer for Whiteley and Vasquez said he plans to meet with Disney out of court next week, deferring the lawsuit.

Nack, who wrote "Ruffian: A Racetrack Romance" and worked as a consultant on the film, refused to discuss the case in an interview with the Globe, but acknowledged that artistic liberties were taken.

"There were conversations in there that did not happen. But overall, I thought it was accurate," Nack said. "It's not a documentary. It's a dramatization."

That may be. But for a dramatization, "Ruffian" lacks a critical element: the drama.

Robbie Brown can be reached at jbrown@globe.com.