Horse Racing and Hollywood: Cure the Pre-Belmont Blues with a Movie

For the first time since the swinging Seventies, we might have a Triple Crown winner. But instead of Andrew Beyer-like analysis (and Andy always bets against his Speed Numbers anyway), how about a look at some of the best Hollywood horse racing flicks?

Let It Ride

"Mrs. Davis: There's a fine line between winning and losing.
Jay Trottor: Yeah. The finish line."

Richard Dreyfuss, fresh from the shark's jaws, is great in "Let it Ride," an underrated gem of a Horse racing flick filmed at Hialeah Race Course in South Florida.

Dreyfuss, a degenerate gambler, drinks, bets football, and becomes obsessed with a decadent track buddy's hot tip. He lets it all ride.

Look at trackside for Jennifer Tilly, Teri Garr, Cynthia Nixon (long before Sex and The City), and my favorite hot hippie chick from the Mama and the Papas, marvelous Michelle Phillips.

The Sopranos (Season Four)

"Let’s get back to Pie-O-My, it's sad that you lost something you loved. That being said, it is a horse." Dr. Melfi

Who can forget Tony Soprano's murderous obsession with doomed Pie Oh My? Never bet over your head, which Ralphie had learned the hard way after Tony's beloved Pie Oh My pony is killed in a mysterious barn fire. 

"The Sopranos" was still near the top of its game in Season Four and the Pie Oh My horse racing story arc offers a glimpse of the seedier side of horsing and insurance scams. But did Ralphie really do it?

The Sting

Doyle Lonnegan: I put it all on Lucky Dan; half a million dollars to win.
Kid Twist: Win? I said place! "Place hit on Lucky D-" That horse is gonna run second!
Doyle Lonnegan:[there is a pause, and Lonnegan runs horrified to the betting booth] There's been a mistake! I want my money back!

Well, they don't show an actual horse race, but the scam of the Sting is built around a horse racing sting.  One of the all-time great Hollywood movies offers a glimpse of a time when Horse Racing was King...or at least not the seedy, drunken Duke it has become.

The Ragtime score is wonderful...not to mention Robert Redford, Paul Newman, and Robert Shaw, not yet in the shark's mouth, as the mean, high-rolling Lonnegan.

The Killing

"At exactly 3:45 on that Saturday afternoon in the last week of September, Marvin Unger was, perhaps, the only one among the 100,000 people at the track who felt no thrill at the running of the fifth race. He was totally disinterested in horse racing and held a lifelong contempt for gambling. Nevertheless, he had a $5 win bet on every horse in the fifth race. He knew, of course, that this rather unique system of betting would more than likely result in a loss, but he didn't care. For after all, he thought, what would the loss of twenty or thirty dollars mean in comparison to the vast sum of money ultimately at stake' From Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing."

Before the brilliant Stanley Kubrick began to really shine, he made this dark crime noir flick about a group of criminals robbing a racetrack. Filmed at Bay Meadows Race Track, many better known crime dramas, like Ocean's Eleven and Reservoir Dogs, robbed from this small masterpiece.

The elusive wanderer Sterling Hayden and legendary character actor Elisha Cook Jr. make up part of the gang. It's the perfect heist: $2 million from the track and no one gets hurt....?

Seabiscuit

"Tick Tock McGlaughin: $100,000? Makes me wanna walk on all fours and put a saddle on my back."

Here comes Sea-biscuit! The true story of a real life horse was a blockbuster and a lot of it was filmed at Santa Anita Racetrack.. Co star Gary Stevens, a real life Hall of Fame jockey adds to the startling realism of the racing scenes. Really like racing? Buy the Laura Hillenbrand book. But if you like racing, surely you already have.

Bite the Bullet

"Carbo: Whiskey for me and beer for my horse!"

Ever wonder where that country song came from?

1975's "Bite The Bullet" is latter-day western about horse racing. Except the race is 700 miles long and Gene Hackman, James Coburn, and real life cowboy great Ben Johnson are some of the jockeys. Even if you aren't a big western fan, you can enjoy this true story. Well, it's true in a Hollywood way...

California Split

Bill Denny: Come on, Valdez! Come on, Valdez!
Charlie Waters: Who's Valdez?
Billy Denny: Valdez is the jockey!

Know any compulsive gamblers? No? Well, you will still enjoy Robert Altman's "California Split" anyway which is set mostly among the tracks, casinos, and card parlors of California in the 1970s.

Elliot Gould, long before hitting Vegas in Ocean's Eleven, and George Segal are wonderfully sleazy in this dark comedy dealing with degenerate gamblers. Parts of it were filmed in Reno, and look for Jeff Goldblum before he became The Fly..

Who's Got the Action?

Finally, as a salute to one of Hollywood's all time greatest gamblers, a face that fits many one sees at the track, Walter Matthau, catch "Who's Got the Action?" It's a bit dated, but who isn't? And lovely Lana Turner is forever easy on the eyes.

This little experiment has left me longing for the track. And that Belmont thing? Well, Big Brown's trainer Rick Dutrow and Kent Desormeaux both say "cold exacta: Big Brown on top of Casino Drive."

They've been hot so far....so Let It Ride