During conversation with a co-worker a summer movie challenge arose for you to participate in.
In the month of July, let’s try to view and discuss some of these movies in this blog post. We can discuss what we thought of the movie we saw and suggest other movies to check out, or possibly to never see. The list can be found a few paragraphs down. Make sure you +Favorite this blog post/link/url so you can easily come
back and find it, because I will still post blogs unrelated to this
topic during July.
Thanks to Amazon.com and our Exclusively Equine store, I was able to scroll through a plethora of horse racing videos, mostly Thoroughbred racing related but a few unrelated to Thoroughbreds. I have compiled this list of videos that looked interesting enough to hopefully appeal to some of you out there. Some of these videos look rather cheesy, but some of them look quite good.
I have seen Seabiscuit and have The First Saturday In May in my queue on Netflix. I have chosen to watch Kentucky Derby Greatest Moments from the list and will be receiving it this week via Netflix.
Here is the video listing, with the movie title, then some additional info on the movie to help you find it.
Win, Place, Show: The History => history
Laffit: All About Winning => Kevin Costner, et al.
Seabiscuit - America's Legendary Racehorse (Documentary) => Martin Mason, Doc Bond, Charles Howard, and Mrs. Charles Howard
Kentucky Derby Greatest Moments => Secretariat, Barbaro, War Admiral, and Citation
Thunder and Reins => Gary Stevens; Craig Perret; Pat Day; Jerry Bailey; Kent Desormeaux; Jose Santos; Mike Smith; Carl Nafzger; John Ward; John Sadler; Joe Drape; Billy Reed; Sheila Day, and Rita Santos
Saddles & Silks: A Jockey's Story => Saddles & Silk-Jockeys Story
Seabiscuit - The Lost Documentary => Martin Mason, Doc Bond, Charles Howard, and Mrs. Charles Howard
The Life & Times of Secretariat, an American Racing Legend
The First Saturday in May => Chuck Chambers, Paul Parrish, Edgar Prado, and Jake Romans
Barbaro - A Nation's Horse
Seabiscuit => Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, and Cameron Bowen
Dreamer - Inspired By a True Story => Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Oded Fehr, and Kris Kristofferson
Champions => Julie Adams, Kirstie Alley, Peter Barkworth, and Ann Bell
Racing Stripes => Frankie Muniz, David Spade, Snoop Dogg, and Bruce Greenwood
Women in American Horse Racing => Documentary
The Horse Whisperer
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A week or so ago I noticed a new ad running on our site. I clicked on it and behold the shiny new discovery that resulted.
Meydan City.
A ridiculously amazing spectacle of modern engineering, and future city awesomeness that I just had to mention. Quite literally just awesome. I had to learn more.
So I have been surfing the web, and looking up the specs on this location. 40 million square feet gross floor area, 15 million square feet of land area, a self-contained community, boat canal, and waterfront with Meydan Marina, and 10,000 people per hour able transit via metro from the city to the Meydan track and back.
I clicked on the Racecourse video near the bottom of the home page and was amazed at the plans and feel of this place. It is a trip I am now going to have to plan to take in my lifetime, just to see it to believe it.
The city itself is a tribute to the horse, but their race track is beyond words.
Meydan Commercial Director Mohammad Abdul Nasser Al Khayat said: "We are keen on enhancing awareness of the Meydan project. Our objective is to showcase this iconic development to our potential consumers and stakeholders.
The Meydan project is being developed with the aim of cultivating a spirit of sport, commerce and play. The project is designed to foster cultures that are competitive, healthy, and energetic."
You can view the city here http://www.meydan.ae/
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Horses of interest results:
6th race - Hastings Racecourse - June 19, 2009
Off at: 9:46 Race Type: Claiming
Age Restriction: Three Year Old and Upward
Value of Race: $10,044
Distance: About Three And One Half Furlongs
Surface Type: Dirt Track Condition: Fast
Winning Time: 40.93
Pgm Horse Jockey Win Place Show
1 Dark Vader Pedro V. Alvarado 4.80 3.20 2.80
2 Money X Change Richard Harvey Hamel 4.20 3.40
3 Master Foolish David Wilson 3.10
Also ran: 5 - Freequartersmine , 8 - Mykentuckyprincess , 4 - Forecastor , 6 - Write a Letter
Scratched horses: Bad Sneakers
4th race - Hollywood Park - June 19, 2009
Off at: 8:37 Race Type: Claiming Video Race Replay
Age Restriction: Three Year Old and Upward
Value of Race: $37,800
Distance: Seven Furlongs
Surface Type: All Weather Track Track Condition: Fast
Winning Time: 1:22.12
Pgm Horse Jockey Win Place Show
6 Soda Pop Kid Jose Valdivia, Jr. 10.80 5.80 3.60
1 Big Bad Leroybrown Tyler Baze 6.60 5.00
4 Yankee Visionary Garrett K. Gomez 3.40
Also ran: 7 - Bestdressed , 2 - Lang Field , 3 - Principle Secret , 5 - Saint Paul
9th race - Arlington Park - June 21, 2009
Off at: 5:14 Race Type: Allowance Optional Claiming
Age Restriction: Three Year Old and Upward
Value of Race: $34,500
Distance: One And One Sixteenth Miles
Surface Type: All Weather Track Track Condition: Fast
Winning Time: 1:45.10
Pgm Horse Jockey Win Place Show
8 General Charley Eduardo E. Perez 8.40 4.00 3.00
4 Just Julian Eusebio Razo, Jr. 8.00 5.20
5 Obi Wan Kenobi James Graham 4.60
Also ran: 3 - Quasicobra , 7 - Going Ballistic , 1 - Hurta , 2 - Voy Por Uno Mas , 6 - Alone At Last
Horses of interest works:
Piratesonthelake
Date: June 23, 2009
Track: ARLINGTON PARK
Distance: Five Furlongs
Time: 1.00:20 Breezing
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: All Weather Track
Rank: 2/16
Brass Hat
Date: June 19, 2009
Track: CHURCHILL DOWNS
Distance: Five Furlongs
Time: 59:60 Breezing
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt
Rank: 2/9
Pyro
Date: June 13, 2009
Track: KEENELAND
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 50:80 Breezing
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: All Weather Track
Rank: 51/59
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On The Muscle:
Not just the best horse documentary I have ever seen, but one of the best documentaries I have ever seen...period. This statement coming from an avid war history buff who finds himself habitually watching military documentaries.
Summary:
On The Muscle is a video that is over two hours long and divided into three parts. You follow Richard Mandella, his trainers, exercise riders and barn around the US in 2003.
If you are a fan of The Tin Man, Pleasantly Perfect, Reddatore, Alex Solis and many other horses, then you need to watch this movie.
On The Muscle covers predominantly the West Coast racing, with Mandella's barn based in California. You will visit Santa Anita, Del Mar, and many other tracks while witnessing the Kentucky Derby, Breeders' Cup and several other stakes races.
The video follows the progression of horses already in training and watches the careers grow for Mandella's stars. Witness the arrival of 2YOs from Kentucky and witness their introduction to training. Learn how the horses train and see the skill required to understand a horse's personality, running style, health and limitations.
This movie taught me so much more about the ins and outs of a barn. Respect and admiration for the dedication of true horsemen has grown immensely. It was great to see how Mandella won four Breeders' Cup races in a single day, setting a record.
If you have ever wondered what the daily routines are or what it takes to be in this industry, see this movie. It is entertaining, highly educational, and family friendly.
I give this six out of five stars.
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Kentucky Derby Greatest Moments:
Filled to the brim with history, statistics and lots of footage I have never seen before, and I have seen a lot of Derby footage.
The film was not just about the races, but the people, the farms, and the culture at the tracks. One of the largest stand outs for me to see was how the in-field use to be PACKED with people running from side to side, just to see the horses.
Watching various celebrities and stars that visited through the years was fun. Seeing how much international attention was given to various horses along the way, especially Secretariat of course.
I learned so much about various farms, especially Calumet. I knew how much Calumet meant to racing, but now I understand truly why. I learned about the golden age of racing and so much about the horses from WW2 and before.
I was lacking in history here and there from the early days of the Derby. I was super excited to meet Lord Darby and listen to his statements on the differences between Europe's Darby and the Kentucky Derby.
I give this four out of five stars, and highly recommend this movie to anyone wanting to learn about the Kentucky Derby. I never found myself bored.
