Foaled in Kentucky, the dark bay colt was owned and bred by Ogden Phipps.
He was a son of Bold Ruler, an important Champion sire, and his damsire was Hasty Road, who won the 1954 Preakness Stakes.
[1] Trained by Hall of Fame inductee Edward A. Neloy, in 1970 the then four-year-old Reviewer set a new Belmont Park track record of 1:46+4⁄5 for 1+1⁄8 miles (1.8 km) in winning the Nassau County Handicap.
Shenanigans, Ruffian's mother, was euthanized on May 21, 1977, when she broke two legs after waking from an intestinal surgery.
Among his other progeny, Reviewer sired the 1976 American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly Revidere and the good runner Drama Critic (b.