On The Horizon: Secretariat
I live in Louisville, Kentucky. And I love this city, but every year thousands of people descend upon the city to watch a bunch of beasts run around a track for two minutes. Most of them have had a few too many mint juleps, and are too drunk by the time the race actually starts to even know what’s going on. I don’t particularly care about the Kentucky Derby, but I’m sure that I’ll be working overtime this weekend covering for people who do. And even though I don’t care about the race, I can’t help but be intrigued by the story of the only horse to ever run the 1 1/4 mile race at Churchill Downs in less than 2 minutes. This is the most famous horse in the world, except maybe Mr. Ed, ESPN gave him the honor of being the 35th greatest athlete in the past century, and now there is a movie telling his wonderful story.
It’s set to hit theaters on October 8th, and it looks like it’s all the movie that Seabiscuit wanted to be. From director Randall Wallace (The Man in the Iron Mask, We Were Soldiers) comes the true story of Penny Chenery (Diane Lane), a modest housewife who agrees to take over her father’s thoroughbred stables despite her lack of horse-racing knowledge. In true underdog fashion, she and her horse, Secretariat, with the help of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich), manage to navigate the business and the track, culminating in the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years. Check out the trailer below and safely enjoy the derby this weekend.
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