Big Red, you see, was impossible. He was capable of moving at speeds that, before him, people had believed no horse could. He was strangely fickle about unleashing that speed; his winning record was far from perfect, since some days he just wouldn't break it out. But still, he could sprint so fast that he could hang back at the rear of the pack and explode forward for the win. He was what was known as a pace stalker, a horse that just barely matched the speed of his opponents for the majority of a race and then kicked into gear to beat them at the end. The kind of speed he opened up with broke records that have never been equaled-- he won the mile-and-a-half Belmont by a shocking thirty-one lengths. The announcer yelled out at the time, "He is moving like a tremendous machine!" He really was, after all. When they autopsied him after his death, they found he had an enormous twenty-two pound heart, which people theorize delivered so much more oxygenated blood to his muscles than any of his competitors. He was a freak. He was a miracle.
It's a good film, well-made and interesting to watch. The dialogue was a bit cheesy in places, but they didn't squishify the horse too much and the dramatic tension built during the races was awesome. I spoke with Jared afterward about it. He'd also liked it but he said he was a bit weirded out by their choice to play "Oh, Happy Day" over the last few strides of Red's Belmont win, jokingly asking if they were saying the horse was Jesus. I laughed that no, but I still found it an appropriate song-- that too was impossible, and yet. It was a really beautifully set up shot up, too, with silence as Red went into the curve and then bursting into the song as he exploded into the final stretch. Very beautiful, and about a truly amazing animal.
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