It’s out! Bloodhorse reported today that the documentary of John Henry, the “Steel Driving Racehorse“, is now available on DVD. This trailer has been out for awhile so it’s nice to see the project finally come to fruition. I already bought my copy, and am looking forward it!

We’ve been lucky these past few years that talented filmmakers such as the Hennegan Brothers and John Corey have been able to independently produce films on racing, particularly when the Secretariat film looks to have taken many a liberty. I don’t think one can really complain about that when one considers the trade off. I found the trailer completely emotionally manipulative, and I’m a crabby old shut-in! I can only imagine how well it will work on it’s intended audience, particularly given that there were reports of cheering in the audience during every race. I mean, that’s Disney’s specialty, right? Good for us that they chose racing to work their (scary!) manipulative magic!

Let’s hope that some of those film goers will take it upon themselves to search out more of racing’s great stories, because racing is full of great stories. And let’s hope that some other independent film projects, such as Boys Club (or Freak, it’s changed names a couple of times) about Julie Krone and Jock, the Movie about the first generation of female jockeys, see the light of day.