Secretariat the Movie on DSTV this Sunday at 8pm

I feel we should just sit back wit a bowl of popcorn and your close ones and just enjoy the damn movie..... Sometimes people try so hard to analyse something that really doesn't need to. It may not be the most accurate depiction but i bet the horse just got a few more milions of admirers by the making of the movie. And a very tiny percentage of that will be actual horse racing followers.... The power of a movie! So sit back and relax and try not be a sceptical but an appreciator!

Sea Biscuit the best horse racing book that I've read by a country mile and Laura Hillenbrand is my hero for life ! I guess that's why the film was never ever going to meet my expectations. Plus, the ridiculous swapping of horses (big, small, long forelock, no forelock, etc) and some of the simulated race ride scenes just ruined it for me. Sorry.

LOVED Phar Lap and they got most of the horsey details spot on, so probably my second choice of film.

Loved the Champions book and the film was not bad at all - you have to go a long way to beat that opening music and footage, but it is so dark and dreary in places and they missed all the fun bits (such as the origin of Aldaniti's name and the fact that one of Bob's girlfriends found his cancer lump during a bedroom romp). A little like Withnail and I - great, but not the sort of thing you pull off the shelf too often.

I liked Secretariat the book, although it lost me with some of the facts and figures every now and again. I did enjoy the film though and LOVED the way they shot some of their race footage - ground-breaking camera work, using real jockeys for the racing scenes as well as incorporating some of the original race coverage was a masterstroke. However, there were just too many liberties taken with IMHO important details and silly bits that jarred (such as Penny and the groom washing Secretariat - puh-lease!, the jockey still in his silks and racing togs in the middle of the night, etc), but I can just about forgive all that for the final Belmont coverage and nice touches like putting the real Penny in the crowd as well as for the fact that they made the story so accessible to non-racing folks.

But as a purist, I'm afraid I stand by my choice of The Black Stallion for best film with a horse race in it. Francis Ford Cuppola created a little bit of magic there. It is timeless and appeals to kids as well as adults. It is beautiful and it is pure and some of the scenes are simply unforgettable. The montage of Alec flinging away the reins and throwing his arms out on the track as he did on the beach captures exactly what it feels like crossing that line. It's the sort of film I can watch over and over and recommend to anyone with full confidence that they will enjoy it. They paid real attention to the horsey bits that mattered and they get my vote for that. The 'star' was an Arabian called Cas Ole and even he had to be dyed the requisite colour as he had white markings. His body doubles were relatively consistent (or there was a fair effort made to match them fairly closely) and all the riding and horsey elements looked and felt authentic. Mickey Rooney was a shoe-in as Henry and he had a genuine horsey background. The boy who played Alec Ramsay was chosen for his riding abilities and he did most, if not all of the riding in the movie. Also, how can you not love those freckles and gorgeous green eyes ?

The Return of the Black Stallion was not as good for me though.

Totally respect anyone who chooses any of the others, but IMHO The Black Stallion is still the best.

Loved it, loved it, LOVED IT !

One would have to be a kid to enjoy The Black Stallion.

I hope Laura got a lot of dough for the screen rights!

Barry compared with us old folk, suz is a kid lol

There's a new horse movie to be released soon called "War Horse". I heard about this on Facebook from a cousin who reckons just the trailer had her in tears! She's the only other person in my family that loves horses, and is not particularly sentimental I have to say, so I listen when she says it is really sad. Also it is directed by Steven Spielberg who is pretty darn good.The writeup is from Wikipedia.


"In Devon at the outbreak of World War I, Joey, young Albert Narracott's beloved horse, is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France. He serves in the British and German armies, which takes him on an extraordinary odyssey, serving on both sides before being alone in No Man's Land. But Albert cannot forget Joey, and, still not old enough to enlist in the army, he embarks on a dangerous mission to find and bring Joey home."

I enjoyed the Secretariat movie. I know it was Hollywood-ised and the book is much more accurate, but I guess the film was designed for a wider audience and enough of the real Secretariat story more or less survived the scriptwriter's worst efforts. If nothing else, the racing scenes are pretty accurate and the Belmont Stakes recreation was particular stirring, even if I could have done without the booming happy clapper music and religious overtones that went with it.

Anyone involved in racing at the time will never forget the Belmont, pity we did not have YouTube in the good old days

A day will come when a movie is made of Man o' War. Disney will make it. Instead of being a rachorse, however, the hero will be a dolphin, because of wider audience appeal. Coming to a visual headset in your own home. Be ready.

I don't know about you, but other than the dolphin's hair coat, I thought he really resembled Man o' War, especially about the snout. It's such a shame he wasn't able to race after his 3yo season. But the pimp that owned him needed to sell for the money to buy some new prostitutes for his other stable.

Some other titbits about Secretariat:

His big brother was Sir Gaylord, sires of Sir Ivor and Habitat;
Secretariat's grand dam Imperatrice is the fourth dam of Dash For Cash (1973) arguably US's finest quarter horse ever;
In 1973 Big Red was nominated US Sportsman Of The Year;
Secretariat sired the first $1 million yearling who was unfortunately a flop.

www.thoroughbredtimes.com/national-news/...thplace-auction.aspx