'First Saturday' reveals a thrilling run for the Run for the Roses

By WILLIAM ARNOLD
P-I MOVIE CRITIC

The premise of "The First Saturday in May" is such a natural for a documentary film that it's a wonder no one has thought of doing it before now.

Think how many fiction or fictionalized films about horseracing have worked at the box office: "Seabiscuit," "Phar Lap," "National Velvet," "The Black Stallion," "Broadway Bill," "Boots Malone," "Kentucky," ad infinitum.

So why not put a team of cameras on the major contenders for the Kentucky Derby one racing season, follow them (from the point of view of the trainers) through the qualifying races, and then climax with the most heart-pounding two minutes of the sporting year?

This is exactly what the filmmaking team of Brad and John Hennegan did for the 2006 Derby race, and -- it being the year of the triumph and tragedy of Barbaro -- they couldn't have selected a more heartbreakingly dramatic Derby to document.

The film's six contending thoroughbreds (out of what will be a field of 20) are:

Barbaro: Undefeated going into the race and trained by the smooth, super-confident Michael Matz, "the "Michael Jordan of Equestrian."

Achilles of Troy: Trained by Frank Amonte, a fast-talking New Yorker who seems to have wandered off the set of a Scorsese movie.

Brother Derek: A California horse trained (from a wheelchair) by Dan Hendricks, who only weeks before was left paralyzed by a dirt-bike accident.

Jazil: Trained by recently diagnosed MS victim Kiaran McLaughlin and owned by the horseracing-obsessed royal family of Dubai.

Lawyer Ron: An Arkansas-bred horse trained by 73-year-old Hot Springs veteran Bob Holthus, looking for a smashing finish to a celebrated career.

Sharp Humor: A Kentucky-bred horse trained by Dale Romans, who grew up near Churchill Downs and has dreamed of a Derby victory since childhood.

One horse will fail to win the needed points to qualify for the Derby, three will finish in the distance, one will come in fourth and one will win by the largest margin of any Derby winner in 60 years -- only to suffer a tragedy two weeks later in the Preakness.

As the movie jumps around these six horses and their trainers -- and back and forth among tracks in Dubai, Arkansas, California, Florida, New York and Kentucky -- it's often easy to get lost, and the various characters are not all equally interesting.

But racing fans will find this movie irresistible. It's full of privileged, behind-the-scenes moments, and it communicates the genuine love all these people have for the sport and its traditions. (No one here seems to be motivated by money.)

The directors have told the press that one of their goals was "to make horseracing -- a great sport that has gotten progressively less attention over the past 30 years -- cool again." The movie actually does this. It sure inspired me to make plans for Emerald Downs.

P-I movie critic William Arnold can be reached at 206-448-8185 or williamarnold@seattlepi.com.

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