Picture: Owner Mark Allen with the subject of the movie 50 to 1
The movie 50 to 1 appears to have been a box office failure, which is surprising because it is a 100% true story and was riveting to this horseracing fan.
Click here to watch the movie 50 to 1 on Youtube – if you don’t want any spoiler information about the movie then stop reading here.
50 to 1 is the true story about the horse Mine That Bird and it’s appeal is that it fits into the view of the horseracing industry being “the dream industry” and into the adage “It takes just one horse.”
The connections of Mine That Bird are a salt of the earth group of cowboys and trainer Chip Woolley is the horse’s third trainer.
His results in his first two runs as a three-year-old for Woolley are alright, a second placed finish in the Borderland Derby, which is known as a pointer race to the Listed Sunland Derby, and he then runs a moderate fourth in the Sunland Derby.
However, the connections then learn they have qualified for the Kentucky Derby chiefly because of Mine That Bird’s good two-year-old results in Canada, where he won four out of six races and was voted Canadian Champion Two-year-old male.
Mine That Bird is thus transported 1700 miles in a horse box towed by a pickup truck by Chip Woolley and his assistant trainer Kim Craft to Churchill Downs to compete in “The Run For The Roses”.
To give an idea of the characters, Chip Woolley meets Mine That Bird’s chief owner Mark Allen when he helps him out in a bar fight.
Mark Allen owned a ranch and was not short of money.
He and his racing partner Leonard Blach shelled out $400,000 to buy Mine That Bird.
However, the cowboys are unlikely owners of a Kentucky Derby runner, especially when having to rub shoulders with Bob Baffert’s clients and the Godolphin entourage etc.
Their jockey is a fine match for them though, Calvin “Borail” Borel.
Long known as a top journeyman rider in his home state of Louisiana and the Midwest, Borel burst on the national scene in 2007 with an emotional reaction after winning the Kentucky Derby on Street Sense. Borel had a great run at Saratoga that summer, riding three Grade 1 winners, including Street Sense in the Travers.
He is known as “Borail” because of his penchant for hugging the rail, an unusual tactic in the USA and he played himself in the movie.
While the connections are not blending too well into the usual Churchill Downs Kentucky Derby owners section of the stand, their friends have gathered 1700 miles away to watch the race in their local bar in New Mexico.
I won’t go any further.
Hope you enjoy the movie!
To continue on the theme, it has to be said that movie biographies are often boring, perhaps because the story is well known already.
That is perhaps what made Sea Biscuit such a great movie – nobody outside of the USA really knew the incredible story behind the battler who became an equine hero.
However, there is one way to ensure a movie on Andrew Fortune will not be boring and that is for him to play himself!
