Sunday, April 20, 2008

The Third Friday in April

(CHICAGO, IL – April 21, 2008) On the third Friday in April, the horse racing documentary entitled “The First Saturday in May” was shown in Chicago for the first time.

As happens in the horse racing industry when something of tangential interest in the sport is met with recognition by the outside, it gets blown out of proportion on the inside. So, horse race insiders, maybe you’ve heard about it.

Of the 150 people in attendance at the Landmark’s Century Centre for the premiere, at least a couple dozen seemed to be friends of the editor and almost all the rest were friends of racing. They rose to applaud the final curtain, stayed for a brief question and answer period and a computer printed flyer, and seemed generally satisfied with the return from their $10 ticket purchase, $2.50 of which reverted to the Grayson/Jockey Club Research Foundation.

This generous slice of box office proceeds, at least for a little while, is being donated to charity by John and Brad Hennegan, who wrote, directed and produced the movie. The Hennegans, sons of a New York Racing Association placing judge, grew up around the racetrack and decided to mix their passion for the horses with their knowledge of film-making. It is noteworthy that they had the grace to be generous to others, and admirable of Churchill Downs Incorporated and Truly Indie, the distribution company co-owned by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban, to assist in the movie’s financing.

Not everyone is able to quit their employment and embark on a 16-month worldwide odyssey for the purpose of gathering film footage. But that’s exactly what the Hennegans did. On the basis of good salesmanship and plentiful charm, they were able to cajole their subjects into providing them with copious cooperation. They parlayed an investment of roughly $100,000 in living expenses, travel and equipment for a 96-minute cinematic escape. “The First Saturday in May” is their first feature film.

The horse racing fans in the cinema were of the experiential kind, not the gambling kind. So even if the quality of the film wasn’t what the Hennegans imagined or they expected, losing ten bucks on the ticket wasn’t denting their betting stake. There are very few ways to better spend a sawbuck, especially if one possesses some knowledge of the game.

By all means, “The First Saturday in May” isn’t perfect, nor is it an Oscar nominee. But the movie has played to positive reviews in most corners, excluding Eighth Avenue and W. 40th Street. The movie was a selection of the Tribeca Film Festival and a winner at film festivals in Savannah, Durango and Austin. More importantly, it succeeds mightily in bringing warmth to the blood of its audiences.

By now, racing fans know that the movie traces the lives of six trainers with contenders for the 2006 Kentucky Derby. But what many people don’t realize is that the Hennegans started their project out by filming 15. The half-dozen they were left with included Frank Amonte Jr., whose Achilles of Troy broke down mercilessly en route to providing the trainer with a life-long dream, and Michael Matz, whose dream was realized before having it come unraveled in the most spectacular and least expected way.

The main criticism of the movie has to do with the Derby’s aftermath. “The First Saturday in May” should have ended on an up-note, leaving Barbaro fans with the positive image of their hero in triumph. Instead, it pandered to the temptation of sympathy revival. Clearly, nobody engaged in the process of making the film could have expected what would happen in the Preakness. But the Hennegans should have ended the film by draping a blanket of roses on the Kentucky Derby winner.

If this had happened, the film-makers could have taken pride into being rare historians. After all, the movie is called “The First Saturday in May,” not “Fourteen Days Later.” Does every blessing of joy in the sport have to be tempered by an example of unhappiness? In this instance, it was. The Preakness coverage was never properly entwined with the main subject of the work, and thus became a clumsy postscript.

Some viewers at the Century Center complained that the film fell short in providing them insight to what trainers do on a day-to-basis. The New York Times reviewer is correct to place blame on haphazard scene gathering. Although the scene which portrays the young son of one trainer with “a brick” of cash in his pants from playing poker is unique, it was not fully developed. One team of Kentucky Derby participants was shown playing in a golf tournament, and that lent credence to the concept of a life outside the business. A shot of Frank Amonte Jr. boosting 72-year-old Frank Amonte Sr. into the saddle of one his runners emphasizes how much families are involved in this pastime.

The film is instructional. Casual racing fans don’t realize how horses earn their way into the Derby by accumulating earnings in graded stakes races. Nevertheless, in utilizing a chronological format and some well-placed title cards, the point that there was a long and winding road en route to Louisville was made effectively. The scenes in which the trainers provided emotional information to an off-screen interviewer triumphed over similar scenes in which on-screen turf writers were involved.

“The First Saturday in May” breaks poorly from the gate, and races forwardly for most of the way to the finish line. Then it appears to have won everything intended of it, until stumbling a bit at the end.

There aren’t many horse owners and trainers who would be dissatisfied with coming close in the Kentucky Derby. The Hennegans have every right to feel proud of their movie. Anyone who accepts the challenge of creativity does his best to deliver a product that everyone will love. Movie-goers, especially the fans of horse racing, will embrace this effort.

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