Hennegans' film "The First Saturday in May"
 

I saw it earlier tonight. It was a lot of fun. I was afraid it would pander to Barbaro and it fortunately did not. The film did an excellent job of showing some of the characters in the game and everyone came off in a good light. Without question Dale Romans, his cousin Paul, and his son Jacob were the stars of the show. Lawyer Ron's groom was terrific as well. There was also some great footage of Dan Hendricks getting on a horse ( something he apparently does once or twice a week ).

It's unfortunate that there isn't at least one showing in Louisville this week and I hope at the very least they get to show this movie during the few times racing has some genuine popularity. Unfortunately I doubt it has the mainstream appeal necessary for any real release but I hope that somehow people get a chance to see it. The filmakers should be commended for doing a great job of showing the great side of racing without oversentimentalizing anything.

And, oh yeah, sadly Byk has some brief screen time.

where can we see this movie? is it just doing limited screenings?

VG,

The Hennegans got it into the Tribeca Film Festival in NY this week, and they are hoping to land a distribution deal for cinematic release or a purchase by a network for airing, etc.. At worst, they'll be able to get it done on DVD for sale through equine media type outlets. But hopefully it gets embraced for the big screen..

Thanks for telling us all what you thought of the movie.

The scene when Pletcher asked Jacob if he could borrow $200, and would pay him back with juice at Belmont, was classic.

Any kid that hangs out with Kurt Paseka is OK.

I think it looks great and can't wait to see it! Nice to see a "hipper" perspective on racing.

clips from movie...

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=HenBros