Bloggers Continue to Recommend & Support the Film
I know you might be saying “A Horse Racing Documentary, Henry? Are you high?” I’m kind of tipsy, but that’s not even connected. I wasn’t sure of what I was going to see going in as I knew nothing, really. I once rode a horse when I was at Bard, during Spring Fling, shouts to the Bard Equestrian Club. But this novice came out a fan of the sport. Now that I can follow UFC (and a lot of others are as well), I think it’s safe to agree with the film’s director that this is the best sport you’re not watching.
I just had a fabulous evening watching a movie about the journey to the Kentucky Derby.
My mind organizes its fondest memories in clickable thumbnail…
To return to the First Saturday in May, I need only to click on the image of trainer Kiaran McLaughlin and Jazil, the future Belmont Stakes winner, sitting in the stall’s hay, both of them, with Jazil’s smallish dark head in Kiaran’s hands, eyes closed, blissed out from the petting of his devoted conditioner. Kiaran, stroking, stroking, says that people can’t imagine the human-racehorse bond approximating that of parenting a dog or a cat, a pet, but there it is, in the Hennegan’s film; all that’s missing is a couch and a TV and a few framed family photos in the backdrop and maybe Kiaran baby-talking, What a good boy…such a good boy…who’s daddy’s best boy?
What touched me most were the scenes with the kids. I was getting choked up watching Alex Solis’ son cheering “Go Dad!” while the rest of the world was cheering for his mount, Brother Derek. I felt like a voyeur into an extremely personal relationship between father and son.
Posted on Apr 20 2008
Filed Under: News
