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I know it’s probably been covered before but does anyone have any favourite racing documentaries.
To kick off the channel 4 documentary on Cecil and Frankel was one of the finest pieces of TV of the last few years.
Also “Charismatic” the 30 for 30 ESPN documentary is a great watch. The entire 30 for 30 series is unbelievable.
For a so called major sport documentaries are few and far between. There is four that spring to mind for me and all are old.
Firstly, there was one following a lad of school age to Donny on the day Nijinsky won the St Leger, the lad relishing seeing his hero jockey and horse. It was when they had the bookies in an indoor hall.The lad could have been a character from ‘Kes’.
There was a documentary, also from the 1970’s. Which was like a fly on the wall at the Trevor Kersey yard.You really got the feel of the small, family run set up.
In the early 1980’s there was one covering Guy Reed and his stallion Warpath. That was very watchable.
In the early 1990’s there was one following Jason Weaver around when he was an apprentice with Luca Cumani. He was accompanied by his girlfiriend who I believe later married Garry Stevens !
There is one on Phil Bull which was interesting.
Those all sound interesting Cancello – especially the first one.
There are quite a few interesting mini documentaries here including Matt Chapman interviewing Henry Cecil at Warren Place.
Totally agree with you on The Racehorse and the Trainer documentary featuring Frankel, I have locked that in on my recordings in case it gets deleted by accident.
Also love the documentary about Dream Alliance the pub syndicate home bred horse who, against all odds won the Welsh National at Chepstow in 2009.
JacThings turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...I have a lovely BBC documentary on video about the family who bred Flakey Dove; it was made when she wasn’t even a twinkle in anyones eye…it was a about Grey Dove I believe. I keep meaning to get it put onto dvd and I’d love to share it with people but I’m not sure about copyrite etc . It doesn’t appear to be anywhere on utube. I agree about the Dream Alliance film; couldn’t be improved upon. There was a series about the Jessica Harrington yard on the run up to Cheltenham; this was a few years ago and I missed it when it was televised; would love to see it.
The documentary series about Jessica Harrington was called Turf Wars and was from 2001.
It aired on BBC 2 but I only saw one episode. It was the one where the priest stood in the pulpit after the service and read out tips for the Cheltenham Festival.
Not sure if the BBC sell DVD’s of the series. It may be a bit niche for releasing for purchase.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
There was a decent one in 1988, which aired the Thursday night before The National, called Come The Spring. It followed Dunwoody around in the lead up to the 1987 National, round the minor tracks. I still have it gathering dust up in the loft on VHS. I watched it several times in my youth, and loved it, but no idea how it will have aged.
There was one featuring Richard Guest, Carl Llewellyn, and Luke Harvey, all battling injury in the lead up to the void national (I think that was the premise anyway), but this one wasn’t so good.
RTE documentary on Vincent O’Brien:
Vincent O’Brien – Master of Ballydoyle http://www.rte.ie/archives/2014/0626/626710-vincent-obrien-the-master-of-ballydoyle/
Jim Bolger – The Master of Cool https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRumA2cfSEY
Enjoyed both.
Cancello – That first one you mention on the boy going to Doncaster sounds very interesting.
Does anyone know if it is available anywhere?
Not a documentary but an enjoyable piece of fiction I enjoyed which was broadcast back in the 70s one Saturday afternoon on BBC1 I think when all the racing had been abandoned.
I do not know the title and would love to see it again. It was about two young lads who suddenly discover a winning system and their adventures at the races during one summer.
I just seem to remember the ending narration which went something along the lines of “we knew could not last forever but for that one summer we were kings”
Does anybody else remember seeing it and have any idea what it was called?
Seem to be more around than I first thought – do now remember the Phil Bull one. A bit of the champagne socialist attitude coming from him but interesting nonetheless. Reg the Nijinsky one, was typical 1970’s BBC with the BBC voice narrative. Unfortunately, the way they just stabbed the sport in the back I would not be surprised if the reel had just been binned.
I enjoyed the Mill Reef film, Something to Brighten the Morning back in the 1970s although I don’t know if its sentimentality would go down so well these days. It’s available on DVD along with programmes on Nijinsky & Sir Ivor.
I’m very surprised the Norton’s Coin story hasn’t been picked up by the movie people. Richard Austen makes a wonderful job of telling the tale in his book At The Festival.
A Horse Called Nijinsky narrated by Orson Welles, Arkle – Portrait of a Legend, The Year of Sir Ivor, The Year of Dancing Brave and the aforemention Mill Reef film plus a couple on Frankel as well which are still all available on Amazon.
I remember seeing this documentary about 15 year old twins who bought and trained a horse. This thread reminded me and, after a bit of a search, I’ve found that it’s available on YouTube (posted by one of the boys). Originally shown on BBC in 1994.
Identical twins Steve & Paul Cheatle, save their paper round money to buy an Arab horse, named Irus. Originally shown as a drama-documentary on BBC in 1994, this is the surreal tale of how the twins trained Irus themselves to be a racehorse, and ‘Against All Odds’ he becomes a winner – this inspiring true story illustrates the amazing results that can be achieved through sheer determination and hard work!
Jac
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