Horse Racing Movies

Diamond Geezer

Diamond Geezer

Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
May 2, 2003
Messages
13,884
Can only remember a few, Champions,Seabiscuit,National Velvet but Kevin Blake has pointed this one out on Sunday evening, may be worth a look

"Murphy's Stroke is being shown on Talking Pictures (Sky 328, Virgin 445) this Sunday at 7:30pm. In my opinion, it is the best horse racing movie ever made. If you haven't seen it, be sure to tune in. While on the subject, what do you think is the best racing movie ever made?"
 
The Seabiscuit movie with Toby Maguire is a beautiful visual experience if you can overlook some of the rather contrived mid-race action scenes. The rest of it is just brilliant to watch as well as being an engaging walk through America's industrial history of the early 20th Century.

I suppose if The Sting qualified as a racing movie it would run it close.
 
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I hadn’t thought about it before, but now I have I don’t think I’ve seen a horse racing film that I’ve thought is particularly memorable and worth watching again. I’ll try this one though. Cheers for the pointer.
 
Diamond Geezer said:
Can only remember a few, Champions,Seabiscuit,National Velvet but Kevin Blake has pointed this one out on Sunday evening, may be worth a look

"Murphy's Stroke is being shown on Talking Pictures (Sky 328, Virgin 445) this Sunday at 7:30pm. In my opinion, it is the best horse racing movie ever made. If you haven't seen it, be sure to tune in. While on the subject, what do you think is the best racing movie ever made?"
Click to expand...

Talking Pictures is available on YouView and FreeView 81 for those without Virgin or Sky


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I was at Carmel the day Gay Future won to back harry Bell's Tychee which won biut had no idea what was about to happen.

They should never have been paid out and wouldn't nowadays.

Using 2 horses out of the same yard to put in their bets on a Bank Holiday Weekend and not sending them to the track was insane.

Back then you could enter your horse at more than one track and make your mind up that day where to run.

Should have used a couple of unsuspecting trainers with double entered horses.
 
I didn’t mind the one about the Melbourne cup ( though I kept getting distracted by what I’d seen all the actors/actresses in as well !) got a feeling it was called The Cup ( original!)

And of course there’s Racing Stripes ;)


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Enjoyed Secretariat too, I don't think I've seen many others except Seabiscuit, I will have a look at that one tomorrow
 
Edward O Grady has one up on DK Weld as a budding James Bond played him while the Weld actor (Brendan Gleeson) had previously played the role of Martin Cahill (The General ).
The Tony Doyle character ( O'Leary) is a distant relative of mine.
 
How could I have forgotten the Dream Alliance film [do documentaries count?]. Up there with the best documentaries. I believe they're making a feature film about him, too.
 
Seems to me that you have all missed the best horse racing film named Palio, it is a cinematic masterpiece made by Casimo Spender, if you liked Senna then this is very similar, visually it is brilliant.
Copied this from elsewhere.

Twice a year the Italian city of Siena goes crazy for the oldest horse race in the world: the Palio. Not your average race: strategy, bribery and corruption play as much a part as the skill of the riders. Horses are allocated by lot four days prior to the race. This is when the madness truly begins. In the eye of the storm stand the jockeys. Loved and loathed by the districts they represent, they forge alliances and make deals promising large cash sums to try and get the best start. Legendary rider Gigi Bruschelli has won 13 Palios in 16 years and is accused by his critics of monopolizing the race. He works the system, paying off younger jockeys and fixing the race with average horses. Two races away from beating the world record, Bruschelli will do anything to win. But one jockey stands in his way, his former trainee, a handsome young Sardinian, Giovanni Atzeni, who is quietly determined to challenge his old mentor. Less interested in bribes and collusion, he rides for the love of the race. PALIO is the thrilling story of a young 'outsider' keen to break in to the dangerous but lucrative race and the corrupt 'insider' who has manipulated the city of Siena for a decade. Their passionate and dramatic battle is an epic and cinematic tale of Italian life in microcosm.
 
Yes, SJ, it is a fine documentary that gets across all of the politicking, madness and spectacle. It's at least as complex as trying to manage the peloton in the Tour de France.
 
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Recently enjoyed The Darkest Hour. Good dissection of a Ballydoyle miler who began with great promise but was ultimately a slight disappointment.
 
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