Dream Horse

In substance this movie isn't much different from any number of movies over the years depicting horse racing success against heavy odds. What makes this one unique is how the horse came about.

Set and filmed in Wales it is a true story from almost 20 years earlier. A middle age woman has a boring life, she works at the local supermarket, she also works at the local pub, and goes home to prepare meals for her lackluster husband. She really has nothing to get excited about, to look forward to the next day.

That changes when a new guy shows up at the pub and she learns he had been involved in horse racing but not with a very good outcome. Still she gets very interested, studies up on the subject, figures out all the costs, and devises a plan. She will form a syndicate with interested townspeople, she will buy an appropriate breeding mare, she will hire a proven stud to produce a racing horse.

Let's pause for a minute, genetics being what they are, any offspring are like rolling dice, as Forrest Gump might have said "You never know what you will get." So the chances that any random horse being a champion racer is a big gamble, it could be great, it could be mediocre, or it could be a tragic failure. Even with the best of trainers.

There would be no worthwhile story here if the new horse had turned out to be a dud. But there is a story and this movie presents it entertainingly and authentically. Going to the internet and researching the actual story is worthwhile.

My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our local library. We enjoyed it and found turning on the English subtitles necessary to understand the strong Welsh dialog.