It’s out! Bloodhorse reported today that the documentary of John Henry, the “Steel Driving Racehorse“, is now available on DVD. This trailer has been out for awhile so it’s nice to see the project finally come to fruition. I already bought my copy, and am looking forward it!

We’ve been lucky these past few years that talented filmmakers such as the Hennegan Brothers and John Corey have been able to independently produce films on racing, particularly when the Secretariat film looks to have taken many a liberty. I don’t think one can really complain about that when one considers the trade off. I found the trailer completely emotionally manipulative, and I’m a crabby old shut-in! I can only imagine how well it will work on it’s intended audience, particularly given that there were reports of cheering in the audience during every race. I mean, that’s Disney’s specialty, right? Good for us that they chose racing to work their (scary!) manipulative magic!

Let’s hope that some of those film goers will take it upon themselves to search out more of racing’s great stories, because racing is full of great stories. And let’s hope that some other independent film projects, such as Boys Club (or Freak, it’s changed names a couple of times) about Julie Krone and Jock, the Movie about the first generation of female jockeys, see the light of day.

Posted by dana on May 19 2010    
Filed Under: 2010, John Henry, Legend, Film

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Flanders crushing in the Frizette (Jason Moran)

Sad news today that at some point this month, 1994 Champion Juvenile Filly Flanders was euthanized due to complications from a paddock incident. Glad that Paulick brought us this news but why are we just finding out?

I don’t have enough time to do Flanders justice with a well researched post but I encountered her when I did my 1994 series. She easily made her way to the top of my “favorite horses I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing” (also including Landaluce, Cigar, and Pebbles to name a few).

Here are all of her replays from YouTube… enjoy her brief but brilliant career:

1994 Maiden Race:

1994 Spinaway:

1994 Matron:

1994 Frizette:

1994 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies:

Rest in peace, and here’s hoping we see that Bernadini colt.

Posted by dana on Mar 01 2010    
Filed Under: Jason Moran, Racing History, 1994, 2010, Farewell, Legend, Breeders' Cup, Race Replay, :(, YouTube, Racing

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Who else has been pushed to the edge of their ability? (Sarah K. Andrew)

While having a lovely lunch with a few racing pals the other day, we discussed the past year and decade (along with sports betting, betting on reality TV shows, TV shows in general and the surprising high quality of the pea soup). As the conversation turned to Rachel Alexandra’s spectacular campaign I asked my esteemed colleagues, all long time fans, if they could recall another campaign where a horse was pushed right up to the edge of their ability as Rachel was.

Beyer recently mentioned that he thought Rachel’s campaign was the best for any US based filly:

Her campaign was, in my opinion, the best ever by a U.S.-based filly. The other great fillies of the modern era — such as Ruffian, Personal Ensign, Lady’s Secret and Azeri — made their reputations by dominating members of their own sex but didn’t distinguish themselves against males. Rachel Alexandra challenged males in three Grade I stakes — the Preakness, the Haskell Invitational and the Woodward — and won them all. She trounced Summer Bird, the best male 3-year-old, by six lengths. Overall, she won her eight starts by a combined total of 65 lengths.

After some deliberation and discussion, Ouija Board was mentioned as potentially being pushed to the edge of her ability, but our discussion was cut short by the arrival of the food.

So, I ask you dear readers, can you think of any successful campaigns, where a horse of any class has been challenged more often than not and rose to occasion? What say you?

Posted by dana on Dec 29 2009    
Filed Under: Rachel Alexandra, Summer Bird, 2009, Impressive, Sarah K. Andrew, Legend, Racing

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“Is blogging dead?” was a question posed by my esteemed colleague John of The Race is not to the Swift. He rightfully points out that other options such as Twitter and Facebook are easier outlets than blogging. Indeed.

I commented that as an example, I had posted several tweets of stuff I encountered while twirling around the web last night and had I not been on Twitter that they would have probably ended up as a blog post. As an experiment, of sorts, here’s what I probably would have written had I not had twitter:

While poking around on Hulu after finding an explanation of a tote board to post over here, I found this interview with Mike Watchmaker on Charismatic’s Triple Crown Bid on Charlie Rose. This made me wonder if Charlie Rose did any interviews prior to Big Brown’s Triple Crown attempt, and alas he did!

Since I didn’t really know much about Charismatic or racing in 1999 in general, I looked a little further. I watched the 1999 Belmont to see if any of Watchmaker’s predictions were right (they were not).

And imagine my surprise when I discovered the Charismatic / Chris Antely story, which I knew nothing about! Upon checking out Charismatic’s wiki page I discovered that an ESPN 30 for 30 episode is currently in development on the Charismatic / Antley story (thanks to @raceday360 for the ESPN link), very exciting! Apparently, there’s also a book on the saga entitled Three Strides Before the Wire (via @BklynBckstretch).

And as if all this wasn’t exciting and interesting enough, Haskin also has a compelling post about trainers who are still working that “once ruled the sport“. A true and proven talent not being able to sell themselves and ending up in relative obscurity is not a new phenomenon and certainly not limited to horse racing. History is littered with examples of artists, writers, musicians, etc who suffered the same fate, but as Jessica put it:

I still look at Turner and marvel, that trainer knows what it is to win the Triple Crown.

Here’s a recent trainee of his, Reforestation, hitting the board at 48-1 in the 2009 Grade 1 Prioress at Belmont.

Turner trains for Castle Village Farms, if money bags owners won’t work with the last trainer to win a Triple Crown there’s no reason why you can’t!

Posted by dana on Dec 04 2009    
Filed Under: Big Brown, Internet, Racing History, 2009, Twitter, Steve Haskin, Legend, Belmont, Triple Crown, Belmont Stakes, TV, Racing

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(Seattle Slew winning the 77 Derby © Bettmann/CORBIS - LI Phil)

I won’t be making it out to Belmont today for “Super Saturday” but wanted to share this gem from Jockey Club Gold Cups past. It’s Exceller’s 1978 win, but what I found compelling about it was Seattle Slew’s performance. The race is run so crazily and fast and Slew holds for a photo finish, fighting back down the whole way down the lane. Truly impressive.

Slew is Ernie Munick’s favorite horse and he posted the link at Facebook along with this first hand account and thought about jinxes:

Marlboro, Woodward, Seattle Slew - the finest autumn of my lifetime. Best supporting actor to Exceller, classy, ambitious and brave. Dad stood behind me near the rail as I screamed, all Fall, Stick, Slew! Stick! He broke thru the gate before the JCGC; the ultimate hoodoo. Yet Six Perfections made us wait, and wait, and wait; Green Girl went happy-haywire at the Gulf; Rachel tossed Calvin. Jinxes’re getting soft on us.

Best of luck today and let’s hope that rain holds out!

Posted by dana on Oct 03 2009    
Filed Under: History, 2009, Seattle Slew, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Racing History, Impressive, Belmont, Race Replay, YouTube, Legend, Racing

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