Horse and its owners make for a good film
Jan Vokes, left, Breeder and originator of syndicate with her husband Brian Vokes. Below, jockey Will Biddick.
“Dark Horse”
Rated PG (1:25)
***
Opens today at Kahala 8
Who can resist a good horse story? Simply and directly made, “Dark Horse” is a rousing documentary about Welsh villagers who chip in a modest sum to buy and train a racehorse, and find they have a winner on their hands.
How is it that a group of pubgoers can indulge in the sport of kings, what one of them calls an “exclusive, expensive hobby”? Thirty of them formed a syndicate and contributed 10 pounds a week toward the breeding and upkeep of the animal they would name Dream Alliance, the offspring of a mare purchased for a mere 350 pounds.
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It’s a consolation and a distraction for the inhabitants of a working-class town still reeling from the closing of the local coal mines. The driving force behind the project was Jan Vokes, a part-time barmaid and cleaning woman who had prior experience breeding racing dogs and pigeons.
She is an amiable and, clearly, strong-willed sort who gets plenty of camera time in “Dark Horse,” along with her husband, Brian, who initially thinks she’s lost her mind, but becomes one of Dream Alliance’s most enthusiastic supporters.
It’s affecting to see the growing sense of excitement as the pub crowd follows their steed’s early career via TV broadcasts, and begin to see that he has genuine potential. The scenes work, even though they must be re-creations, because the actual events took place a decade or more ago.
The story is loaded with drama, including a serious injury that could have led to the horse’s euthanization. But Dream Alliance and his owners persevered, and he proved a dream come true when he won the prestigious Welsh National in 2009. When he retired three years later — he’s happily out to pasture — the syndicate realized a modest profit.
Filmmaker Louise Osmond clearly aimed to make a crowd-pleaser, and succeeded. The syndicate members are an un-self-conscious and appealing bunch of regular folks who are well aware that British racing, especially as one’s horse moves up in the ranks, is an arena of swells.
But Dream Alliance’s owners are the sort that you wouldn’t expect to hesitate when their horse needs horribly expensive stem cell surgery — and they don’t.
