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Blog by Don Kennedy

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Secretariat

Secretariat the horse is that well known 70’s triple crown winner jockeyed by Canadian Ron Turcotte that is probably the Sport of Kings greatest racer. Secretariat the movie is the far lesser known but equally compelling story of Penny Chenery whose indomitable spirit matched that of her chestnut colt that she called Big Red and without whom Secretariat may not have become the champion that he is. The fact that the horse was part of her unwelcome paternal inheritance - one that she was ill equipped to administrate and add to that the old boys clique she found herself swimming upstream against and Chenery’s success is downright Herculean. Even though at times the film appears to try too hard to flesh out drama that can only go so far, the always strong Diane Lane gives one of her strongest performances as Cherney who for years dashed between her family in Colorado and the family farm in Virginia at a time when race tracks did not need to rely on added slot machines to make a go of it and women were expected be fully committed to hearth and home. Ironically instead of tearing her family apart her fearless and brilliant conduct did just the opposite. Joining an extensive list of supporting actors that includes Scott Glenn, James Cromwell and recent US presidential hopeful Fred Dalton Thompson is the also always strong John Malkovich who is good as French Canadian trainer Lucien Laurin but who would have been more convincing if his French sounded less Parisian and his English had even the hint of some Quebecois. He’s good enough to probably have pulled it off but maybe Disney though that might not play well in the box office race.

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