The great filly Ruffian, who was buried in the infield at Belmont Park in 1975, has been exhumed as the New York facility prepares for a massive renovation, and has been reinterred at her birthplace, Claiborne Farm. Ruffian raced as a homebred for Stuart Janney Jr. and Barbara Phipps Janney,  whose families have long ties to the Hancock family's Claiborne in Paris, Kentucky. Ruffian was reinterred on Thursday at Claiborne’s Marchmont Cemetery. “I’d like to thank NYRA for preserving and protecting Ruffian’s gravesite at Belmont for close to 50 years,” said Stuart Janney III, son of Stuart Janney Jr., in a release. “This is a wonderful outcome that will increase the public’s ability to visit the site and pay tribute to Ruffian and her incredible legacy. Claiborne is one of the most beautiful and revered Thoroughbred farms in America and the home of some of the greatest horses in racing history, and the ideal place for Ruffian.” Janney made the decision to move the remains jointly with Claiborne and NYRA, where he is a board member Earlier this year, the New York Racing Association received state approval for a massive renovation of Belmont Park. Currently in the very early stages, construction will begin in earnest after the 2024 spring meet at Belmont, with the plan to have the new facility ready for the 2026 spring meet. NYRA is planning to renovate Belmont's three current courses -- refurbishing the main track and re-sodding and widening the two turf courses -- and will also install a Tapeta track. The renovation will also include making the infield accessible to the public. Those changes to the facility directly involved Ruffian's resting place, under the infield flagpole near the finish line and in the path where the Tapeta track will be constructed, resulting in her move to Claiborne. While the historic farm maintains a cemetery near its office that is the famed final resting place of Secretariat and other greats, the Marchmont Cemetery, in a quieter section of the farm, is also home to numerous champions. “We are honored that Ruffian will be returning home,” Claiborne president Walker Hancock said. “She is known throughout racing as one of the greatest fillies of all time, and it’s only fitting that she returns to her birthplace and will lie alongside other great mares such as Personal Ensign, Inside Information, and Moccasin, among others, in our Marchmont Cemetery.” Ruffian, trained by Frank Whiteley Jr. throughout her career, won all 10 of her starts against fillies, onthe lead at every point of call at distances from 5 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/2 miles. She won eight stakes races, including New York's triple crown for fillies of the Acorn, Mother Goose, and Coaching Club American Oaks, smashing several records along the way. Ruffian met Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure in a match race on July 6, 1975, at Belmont Park. The filly was edging away when, a little less than a half-mile into the race, she took a bad step, breaking the sesamoids in her right front ankle. Following surgery that night, Ruffian became violent upon waking from anesthesia, further injuring herself, and the decision was made to euthanize the great filly. The following evening, after the NYRA flag in the infield flew at half-staff during the race card, Ruffian was buried in the infield at Belmont. Ruffian posthumously received her second Eclipse Award, as champion 3-year-old filly to go with her 2-year-old title from the previous year. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1976. Ruffian was one of two Thoroughbreds buried in the infield at Belmont Park. NYRA also announced Thursday that the remains of Timely Writer will be transferred from the infield area near the top of the stretch to Old Friends in Georgetown, Ky. The Thoroughbred retirement farm has become a final resting place for a number of notable horses whose original gravesites have been changed due to the development of racetracks or farms. Timely Writer was the winner of the 1981 Hopeful and Champagne Stakes in New York and the 1982 Florida Derby. He suffered a fatal breakdown in the 1982 Jockey Club Gold Cup.