I am looking forward to it. Like the Seabiscuit movie, I expect some liberties to be taken for theatrical appeal, but I can live with that, if the basic story is on target.
We are very excited to see it come out, I finally saw (almost!) myself in a clip, the piece of white hat behind Diane Lane. 
There’s not supposed to be any stupid jockey-on-mechanical-horse scenes thank God since they used real jockeys. I’ve heard the racing scenes are supposed to be good. And I believe they are using the actual call of the Belmont, so happy about that! :yes:
My claim to fame do far… :lol:
Essentially faint praise unfortunately from the Bloodhorse’s Steve Haskin who has seen the movie. Still like most people he seems to just appreciate a mainstream horse movie being done. His article focuses more on the Secretariat that he knew and witnessed - there are a couple of nice shots shared that he took back in the day.
They held a premiere at University of Maryland on Friday night, I believe. A friend of mine went as a guest of his grandfather, who is an alumni of UMD and a lifelong horseman, race horse owner.
Steve Haskin did this evening put his ‘review’ of the movie with the flaws and all in his column (09-19-2010) - Big Red on the Big Screen
excerpt
Even poor Sham, who suffered enough by coming along the same year as Secretariat, was portrayed as the equine villain, much as the infamous Postman was in the movie “Kentucky,” which by the way had a very similar storyline to “Secretariat,” with Loretta Young playing the Penny Tweedy role, who saves the farm after her father dies.
Worth a read …
From the DRF, by LA Times long time racing columnist Bill Christine: Oct 1, 2010 “Penny Chenery’s life, unscripted”
“Lucien was not a hands-on trainer,” Chenery said during the recent interview. “He wouldn’t spend a lot of time at the barn. But when he was there, he was a great observer. He picked up on things very quickly. He was a better trainer than his son. I don’t want to be critical of Roger, but he didn’t have the intuition that his father had. He trained every horse alike. Lucien had a different regimen for every horse. That’s why he worked Secretariat so hard, because he knew he needed it.”
Another DRF (Christine) Sep 30, 2010 “Turcotte endured a bumpy ride”
As an aside:
Chenery sold The Meadow in 1988, then leased its training facilities for five years. She owns three horses — two broodmares and a filly, Cora Mariah, who is learning the ropes at Calumet Farm. Cora Mariah might be just a horse.
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;4461413]
The real deal with Eddie Sweat back in the day … here is an exceptionally rare film from 1972 of Riva Ridge, Eddie Sweat, Lucien Lauren and the exercise rider when RR was stabled at Keeneland. RR would win the 1972 Blue Grass Stakes there. Note the brief film is so very early 1970’s with the music and presentation.
Video - youtube - Riva Ridge at Keeneland (4 min 44 sec)[/QUOTE]
Better late than never on my part! That was an awesome look back.
While The Social Network appears to be getting more critical praise from those influential to the Academy Awards, the accolades for Secretariat are there too.
UK bookmaker (Paddy Power): Secretariat @ 16-1 for Best Picture
Positive review:
Hollywood Reporter 10-03-2010 Secretariat – Film Review
Will there be an uplift (briefly) for racing from the movie as they saw with Seabiscuit?
Louisville BizJournal Oct 4, 2010: Racetracks hope for boost from ‘Secretariat’
Starting this past weekend, and for the next two weekends, at least five racetracks — Hollywood Park in the Los Angeles area, Remington Park in Oklahoma, Keeneland and Turfway Park in Kentucky, and Woodbine in Toronto — will hold “Secretariat” days.
Keeneland will hold its “Secretariat Day” Oct. 17 and will offer free admission to the track for people with a stub from the movie.
From the DRF’s Steve Crist a decent counter point to the swirling joy over the movie:
October 1, 2010 - “‘Secretariat’ a good story, but it’s not history” - excerpts
Another recurring theme is that Chenery is in constant financial jeopardy if Secretariat loses races due to a “performance clause” in his syndication agreement. In fact, the only such clause pertained to Secretariat’s fertility, not his racing performances. The idea that Secretariat had to win the Triple Crown to save Meadow Stud is sheer fiction and also ignores the contributions of Riva Ridge – who won the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes for Chenery the year that Secretariat was a 2-year-old but is not once even mentioned in the movie.
Secretariat was not a “will to win” kind of horse. He didn’t extend himself when he wasn’t feeling well (the tooth abscess in the Wood, the fever before the Whitney), and he didn’t bravely wear down opponents because truth, justice, and a touch of the supernatural were on his side. He was a blindingly brilliant talent, not a plucky underdog. It’s nice that there’s a movie out with his name on it, but a pity that the movie deviates from the truth so much that we never get to the heart of what made him so worth celebrating.
For those longing for a better feel of what it was ‘really like’ during the Triple Crown chase with Secretariat there are a couple of segments from the fantastic ESPN Sports Century series on the top 50 21st Century Athletes. (The whole hour long award winning documentary is excellent.)
Youtube Pt 1 KY Derby/Preakness - SportsCentury
Youtube Pt 2 Belmont - SportsCentury
More then a few of the commentators have since passed including George Plimpton, Heywood Hale Broun, and writer Pat Lynch.
Youtube has the original CBS telecasts, split into about five parts each. Search “Secretariat CBS” and you’ll see.
They’re a window into television of the past, when sports coverage spoke English instead of Soundbyte. My fave parts are
- The eloquence of the announcers.
- The theme music (except that bar-gong.)
- Chic Anderson's and Heywood Hale Broun's jackets. :eek:
- Anderson going over the KD race card in front of b/w illustrations of the jockey silks. :lol:
- Anderson going over the PS race card in front of color illustrations of the jockey silks. ;)
- The moment just when Big Red II steps onto the dirt at Belmont. 'Twas at that moment we had a blackout. :confused: I was 12 and lived in Merrick, NY, some 30 minutes drive from the track. My father got out his Sony portable AM radio, tuned in WCBS (his fave station to this day) and we listened to Anderson count 'em off while I cursed the television fates.:p
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times, review of Secretariat
As an aside I used to see Roger on occassion walking along in the Loop well before his illness and his fellow reviewer, the late Gene Siskel, used to frequent the OTB on State Street in Chicago. Like Gene that Loop wagering location - with its curious mix of folks always there - is now long gone.
Anyhow - Roger’s remark:
Like “The Social Network,” another contender for year-end awards, it has supreme confidence in its story and faith that we will find it fascinating. This is one of the year’s best films.
Reviews
Hey, I’ m here on behalf of Disney, and it is great to hear that you guys are excited about Secretariat. I want to remind you that the movie will be released tomorrow. A number of reviews are out (as many of you have noted), and people seem to agree that it’s a winner. Variety, for example, has a great review of the movie.
You can check it out here: http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117943775.html?categoryId=31&cs=1
Who is planning on seeing it tomorrow?
I saw it Monday night at a premier. I loved it. Yes, it was typical Hollywood gloss, but pretty accurate, considering Hollywood tends to make horse movies very inaccurate! Secretariat was my hero, and it was great to take a bunch of pony clubbers who had heard of him but never seen the races. I show the Secretariat documentary every year at our pony club Christmas party, which every horse person should own, but this was very enjoyable and we were all on the edge of our seats, even though we knew how it ended!
Facebook page
Hey, great to hear you enjoyed it. For everyone that hasn’t seen the film yet, we have a number of great features posted on our Facebook page, including images, film clips, and interviews. Our newest film clip is called “Press Conference”. Check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks.
[QUOTE=Disney;5145931]
Hey, great to hear you enjoyed it. For everyone that hasn’t seen the film yet, we have a number of great features posted on our Facebook page, including images, film clips, and interviews. Our newest film clip is called “Press Conference”. Check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks.[/QUOTE]
hey, “Disney” I (for one) was very disappointed in the movie. read this:
http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=275624
[QUOTE=Disney;5144045]
Hey, I’ m here on behalf of Disney, and it is great to hear that you guys are excited about Secretariat. I want to remind you that the movie will be released tomorrow. A number of reviews are out (as many of you have noted), and people seem to agree that it’s a winner. Variety, for example, has a great review of the movie.
You can check it out here: http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117943775.html?categoryId=31&cs=1
Who is planning on seeing it tomorrow?[/QUOTE]
Not me. I could tell even from the promos that it played fast and loose with the true story of Secretariat. As someone said, call it “The Penny Chenery (Tweedy) Story,” with a CAMEO by Secretariat.
If I have to see something with the “Disney” name attached, I’ll stick to Pixar productions.
'Haven’t seen the movie yet, so no commentary there, but after I do I’m really looking forward to reading this book written by the jockey who plays Jimmie Gaffney in the film.
The NPR reviewer said that because the horse didn’t have that many problems on the track, the film had to focus on Penny Chenery’s issues in moving into a male dominated sport. I suppose they added the stuff about her daughter to appeal to the teen/tween girl crowd. Not accurate, but it does sound entertaining.
