Let’s be honest, many sporting movies are disappointing. Even those that are hailed as greats often aren’t as good as they’re made out to be (think Field of Dreams and you know what we mean).
But this makes the ones that do get it right even more special. So, let’s have a look at three great movies about horse racing that deserve their place in the sports movies hall of fame.
National Velvet (1944)
One great sporting movie for all the family is the film in which Elizabeth Taylor first made her name as a child star – National Velvet. This film is particularly apposite at the moment as the UK is about to go Grand National crazy, as it does every spring, and, of course, the “National” in the film title refers to the great race whilst “Velvet” is the girl’s name. And when you consider that it was made back in 1944, it gives a real flavour of just what a national obsession the Grand National has always been in its host country.
These days, more than £150 million is wagered on the race each year as everyone seems to have a bet on the race. The racing live betting also goes wild. And it was no different, clearly, in 1944. As the young Velvet leaves to take her horse up to Liverpool for the race, her father and a few of the villagers from the fictional village of Sewels on the south coast in Sussex, give Mickey Rooney (playing Mi Taylor – the young ex-jockey who has helped Velvet prepare the horse for the race) a few bob to have a punt.
This is a great sporting movie mainly because of the whole Technicolor flavour of the film. It’s a ripping yarn for the whole family to enjoy in a larger than life sense. Of course, it was made during the Second World War in a Hollywood that was still keen to glamourize England. So, the scenery is all picture postcard perfect, even though much of it was actually filmed in Pebble Beach California.
You therefore have to take the film at face value. This is no serious approach to the business of the Grand National and horse racing in England. Instead, it’s a Technicolor dream world where family life comes first. There are a few villains around but they’re easy to identify and the sun generally shines.
In the film, the young horse-obsessed Velvet seeks to do something special just as her mother had done in becoming the first female to swim the English Channel (this is pure fiction remember). Her mother, very ably played by the late, great Anne Revere, was assisted in her attempt by her coach, who, it turns out, was Mi Taylor’s father. Mi is on his way to try and find Mrs Brown, when he meets Velvet and they see a horse which has broken free in a field. The horse jumps a wall and Mi exclaims that he’s just jumped Becher’s Brook. When Velvet asks him what Becher’s Brook is, Mi begins to explain all about the Grand National and Velvet’s obsession is born.
The horse causes damage in the town as it has broken free so his owner decides to raffle him off. Velvet buys a ticket but doesn’t win and faints with disappointment. But as she recovers at home, and as she’s looking out of the house window onto a perfect English village scene, she tells her mother that sometimes she sees things, citing the example of the whole town leading the horse over the bridge to her at that moment. Of course, she isn’t seeing things, it’s really happening as the first ticket drawn hadn’t been bought and the second was Velvet’s.
From that moment she and Mi, who has been given a job as a delivery boy for Mr Brown’s butcher’s business, start training the horse. Velvet names the horse “The Pie”. In the book on which the film was based by Enid Bagnold (1889-1981), the horse was a piebald and hence his name. And, by the way, the author was the great-grandmother of Samantha Cameron (b.1971), wife of current Prime Minister David Cameron.
There are ups and downs, including a life-threatening illness for the horse but, by the time April comes around, The Pie is fit and well and ready for the big race having trained throughout the winter. Mi has been to London to book a rider for the race (a Russian jockey named Ivan Taski). But when they eventually arrive at Aintree racecourse, Velvet doubts the commitment of the jockey and tells Mi she doesn’t want him to ride. Mi then resolves to take the ride himself, admitting to Velvet that he’d been a former jockey who had lost his nerve after a particularly bad fall in which a fellow rider had been killed.
But by the timer he’s resolved to ride The Pie, Velvet herself has made the same decision and this is what the pair settle on. Mi cuts Velvet’s hair so she is able to pass for the Russian jockey and she takes her place in the line-up as Mi struggles to view the race from behind a fence, talking to a much taller chap who he continually aggravates asking about The Pie’s progress.
Of course, The Pie eventually wins at odds of 100-1, but just after they’ve crossed the line, Velvet falls off and is taken to the medical emergency room whereupon the examining doctor finds her to be a girl. The news spreads like wildfire and, though she isn’t able to keep the race win officially, Velvet is hailed as a National hero.
Overall, this is a heart-warming story for the whole family, best-watched any time between now and the real race, which will take place on 11th April. The real thing may not quite match the excitement of a 12-year-old girl riding in distinctly dusty conditions at Pebble Beach, but the movie certainly whets the appetite and adds to the Grand National legend.
Seabiscuit (2003)
American movie Seabiscuit is another ripping yarn. This one, however, is based on the real-life story of the horse by the same name who ran to greatness from relatively humble origins during the era of the Great Depression.
The movie captures the downtrodden spirit of the era quite well and it was this that made the horse a household name in America in real-life. In other words, the horse really struck a chord with the American people at the time. This is because the real Seabiscuit was considered too small to be a racehorse, but overcame all this to triumph anyway.
What’s more, Seabiscuit’s jockey was considered to be too big. His trainer was a veteran cowboy and his owner was a car salesman.
The movie does not pretend to tell the real-life story of Seabiscuit with complete accuracy but is probably a better movie for it.
It tells the story of three men, Red Pollard (played by Tobey Maguire of Spider-Man fame), Charles S. Howard (played by Jeff Bridges), and Tom Smith (played Chris Cooper) as jockey, owner and trainer, respectively. Red’s family, from Canada, have been financially ruined due to the depression – so the family place him with a trainer.
He makes it to being a jockey, but he also makes extra cash via illegal boxing bouts which make him blind in one eye.
Charles Howard has made his way up from being a clerk in a bike shop to becoming one of California’s biggest car dealers, and a wealthy man. But when his son is killed in a car accident, he becomes deeply depressed, and this eventually sees his wife leaving him. When in Mexico to seal his divorce, he meets Marcela Zabala (played by Elizabeth Banks). She helps him through depression, particularly via horse-riding. The pair marry and Howard starts buying horses and later meets trainer Smith, who he hires to manage his horses. It’s Smith who convinces Howard to buy the ill-tempered Seabiscuit. No jockey is willing to ride him, but Smith sees Red fighting with some other stable-lads and thinks horse and jockey have similar temperaments.
The story develops from there as Seabiscuit moves from one unlikely success to another.
One of the most interesting aspects of the whole Seabiscuit story both in real life and in the movie, was the horse’s rivalry with another horse, War Admiral. In the end, the two horses had a special one on one match race at Pimlico in 1938. You can watch this fascinating encounter on YouTube. It’s an absolute thriller of a race which Seabiscuit eventually wins by finishing more strongly and pulling away from War Admiral by a few lengths. This is well-portrayed in the movie, too, but the real thing is actually just as good.
In the movie, Seabiscuit’s owner Howard continually tries to get a race with the best horse in the country – the triple crown winning stallion War Admiral, via the latter’s ever-mocking owner New York tycoon Samuel Riddle. Eventually, Riddle agrees to a match on his own terms. But as the date nears, Red Pollard gets injured and cannot ride again. Instead, he gets his old friend, George Woolf (a successful jockey) to ride Seabiscuit. Pollard tells Woolf how to handle the horse and tells him the secret – to let Seabiscuit get “a good look at the Admiral”. In both the movie and in real-life, War Admiral was hot favourite to win.
It’s particularly good watching this part of the film full in the knowledge that the tale is true. So when you watch the actual event on YouTube, then you don’t get any sense of the movie being the kind of Hollywood pap exaggeration that we’re all more than used to.
What’s more, the horse a redeemer for all three men – all of whom were having life problems of their own that were, in some ways, solved by the great horse’s truly inspiring nature as you’ll see for yourself. Overall, this is a must-see movie for all fans of the genre and does justice to real-life events.
Phar Lap (1983)
And the same can be said for the great Australian horse racing movie set in the same era, Phar Lap.
Phar Lap was another real horse – this time from Australia during the 1930s. And like Seabiscuit, this horse also came from relatively humble origins to take on the crème de la crème of the sport.
In real life, the horse was victorious in the Melbourne Cup and was then sent to Mexico and the USA to compete.
The movie actually opens, with the horse collapsing and dying in the arms of his “strapper” (or stable-hand) Tommy Woodcock in California in 1932. The news is met with dismay and anger in Phar Lap’s native Australia. The rest of the film is then seen as flashback.
We see the horse arriving from New Zealand where he had been bred. He and Woodcock form a strong bond and when the strapper complains about how hard the trainer is training Phar Lap, Woodcock gets sacked only to get reinstated as the horse won’t eat in Woodcock’s absence.
The story moves on. Phar Lap is wholly unsuccessful at first but eventually wins a race that saves the trainer from being made bankrupt.
He then starts to win each race he’s in, culminating with the Melbourne Cup win before he’s sent to Mexico where he also wins.
The horse died both in real-life and in the film under what remain suspicious circumstances and the possible involvement of “the Mob”.
But make no mistake, the Phar Lap movie is an absolute classic on a more serious level for the discerning movie goer than the two previous films on this shortlist. Of course, we’re comparing chalk with cheese which isn’t fair to do.
But all three are well-worthy of a viewing whether or not you enjoy the real sport of kings.
What’s your favourite racing movie? Let us know below…