The First Saturday in May

This is an AWESOME film! I was lucky enough to see it twice before - once at Delaware Park and then at SilverDOCS - and I'm going again. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cheer.... The Hennegans, aside from being great guys, are incredible film-makers.

Even if you're not an avid race fan, you will still get a lot out of this film. The Kentucky Derby is an internationally known sporting contest (the Queen even attended last year, for goodness sakes). No other movie shows the in-depth behind the scenes preparations that take place in getting a horse to the Derby. What also makes the movie so poignant is that it features some great scenes with ill-fated Derby winner, Barbaro. He was a true champion. The Hennegans handle his injury in the Preakness and his death with great sympathy, but they don't let it overtake the entire movie.

Go see this film if its playing near you, and if not make sure to get the DVD when its available!

Every year since 1875, the first Saturday in May is the time for the Kentucky Derby, a race of three year old thoroughbred horses over a mile and a quarter track that has been called the most exciting two minutes in all of sports. 40,000 thoroughbreds are born each year. Of these 23,000 will race and of those, only 20 will make it to the Derby. For owners, trainers, grooms, and jockeys it is the World Series, The Indy 500, and the Super Bowl combined into one. For two years, brothers John and Brad Hennegan followed the daily activities of those horses and their trainers that they thought had a chance to make it to Churchill Downs, shooting over 500 hours of film on a minimal budget in diverse locations such as New York, Florida, California, Arkansas, Dubai, and Kentucky. The result is The First Saturday in May, a buoyant and energizing film experience that may just be the best documentary of the year.

First Saturday is primarily a film about horses but is also about families and especially children who provide some of the most entertaining moments of the film. The Hennegans show the ups and downs of the path to the "run for the roses" and the emotional investment of the trainers and their families preparing their horses for the ride of their life. Trainers include Dale Romans who grew up only a few miles from Churchill Downs, Dan Hendricks, trainer of Brother Derek, who is paralyzed from the waist down, Kiaran McLaughlin, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, Michael Matz, trainer of Barbaro who won an Olympic medal as an equestrian, and others. Another human interest story is that of 61 year old groom Chuck Chambers who has worked tirelessly all of his life for this opportunity.

In order to qualify for the Derby, horses have to compete in stakes races scattered throughout the country and only the top twenty three-year olds in earnings will qualify. The film follows six horses: Barbaro, Achilles of Troy, Brother Derek, Lawyer Ron, Jazil, and Sharp Humor through their months of preparation and shows us races - lots of races in which survival in the Derby competition is at stake. These include the Wood Memorial, the Santa Anita Derby, The Gotham Stakes, and many others, one more heart pounding than the other. For some there is triumph and for others tragedy as one horse on the verge of qualifying, breaks down during a race and is pulled from further competition.

The most emotionally compelling moments in the film are those showing the rise and fall of the horse Barbaro from his astonishing 6 ½-length win in the 2006 Kentucky Derby to his breakdown in Pimlico and his subsequent fight for survival. The sequences are shown with admiration and respect for the suffering of the horse and the breakdown is hidden from the camera. The film does not touch issues such as gambling, and race fixing told in Hollywood films until they have become a cliché.

The Hennegan Brothers, whose father was a racing official at Belmont Park and who have had a lifelong interest in the sport, wanted to show the positive aspects of racing, the excitement it generates, and the lives of the real people involved. Of course all roads lead to Louisville and the thrilling 2006 Derby run is one of the highlights. The film ends on an upbeat note informing us of the subsequent successes of the individuals shown in the film and the birth of Barbaro's brother Nicanor, a potential Kentucky Derby participant in 2009. The First Saturday in May may not be the most publicized documentary of the year but, like Hoop Dreams did in 1994, once it finds its audience, it will be a swift ride to the winner's circle.

"You have to do it with confidence." Michael Matz, Barbaro trainer

Out of the gate, the documentary First Saturday in May is a winner, whose neophyte directors, brothers Brad and John Hennegan, capture mostly the glamour of the kingly sport before and at Churchill Downs once a year. Although the editing is choppy, the camera angles uninspired, and the lighting weak—no doubt due to the fact that I saw it from projected DVD before prints were cast—it gently carries a romantic aura of the race to qualify and the big race.

This is the famous 2006 race with the incomparable, tragic winner, Barbaro. That the brothers had enough sense to spotlight this undefeated, favored thoroughbred is much in their favor; that the doc must end in the horse's eventual put down from a Preakness Stakes leg injury is a dramatic counterpoint to the upbeat scenario that went before it, a gift so to speak from the Fates to a film that could have been judged sugarcoated without the dark ending.

Prior to the big race the doc traces several stables and their trainers as they prepare to qualify for it or for the race itself. Notably from good ol' slow Kentucky boy Dale Romans looking for his first win to chatty New York assistant trainer Frank Amonte, whose kids take after him in accent and attitude but not in casual expletives from their dad every time he has a setback.

The usual goofballs are present on the day of the derby such as the rube with the spinning horses on top of his beanie and the chubby preadolescent kid who pulls a wad of money from his pocket while mom proudly exclaims, "Horses and poker, that's his thing right now." The doc doesn't need fancy photography to catch the regal nature of this all American event (notwithstanding an owner sheikh from Dubai). It's a winner.

My wife and I saw this film at The Savannah Film Festival. Although having no expectations, we loved the film from the start. You actually care about the people and the horses, and it takes you on an emotional journey. I don't even like horse racing, but it is so well done that the horse racing is only a vehicle for the talented construction of this film.

You don't get lost for an instant, and you want to know what will happen next. It brushes upon the technicalities and behind-the-scenes work that goes into the theme of the movie, without becoming annoyingly too "in-depth". The bonus is that we learned something...a good thing to happen each day of our lives.

We weren't surprised that the film was an award-winner at the Festival. Well worth watching. I hope it is put on wide distribution so that everyone can see it.

Bravo!!!

I saw this wonderful film at the Tribeca Film Festival last year and was so happy that it will be seen nationwide. During the "Q & A" after a Tribeca screening a youngish member of the audience asked a question that I thought, by virtue of its content, was the ultimate compliment that could be paid to a documentary. "What that based on a true story?", the young lad wondered. With docs you can never know going in whether there will be a story to tell. Nor can you know whether the characters have enough depth and substance to make the telling of the tale compelling. First Saturday's editing accomplishes both. The Hennegan brothers had me shaking my head as I left the theater wondering how they did it.