This weekend was supposed to be the running of the Kentucky Derby but of course, nothing much of anything is running. ESPN looked through its movie collection at Disney and decided that Secretariat would be a good movie to present this weekend. They had various people from the network and some involved in the movie give thoughts and comments. They also had movie and horse-racing trivia, all presented pretty much commercial free.

I remember the first time I went to the race track. Seeing these gigantic animals, so beautiful and majestic and yet so powerful and fast was mesmerizing to me. It wasn’t the betting that drew me there and back over and over, it was the horses. Then, to see these tiny men and women, who weigh less than one of my legs, get on these horses and ride them at 1000 mph with a dozen others surrounding them doing the same thing, well, I was hooked.

I remember seeing Seabiscuit when it came out and liked it but Secretariat was something special. The first time I saw it was with my daughter and that brought back special memories. You know a movie is well-done when it has you engrossed in it and tense even when you know exactly what’s going to happen. The stories of Secretariat are legendary and yet true. Even the back story is fascinating. Not just one of my favorite sports movies, but one of my favorite movies overall.