SUMMER BIRD AS SECRETARIAT?

Terlingua · Postby **Terlingua** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 7:46 am

After watching Summer Bird win the Jockey Gold Cup, I was thinking he'd be great as the 3 year-old Secretariat, although I don't know how many hands he stands and he might be too small. Of course, it would never happen but he would make a great candidate!!!!! Another horse I was thinking about as a good prospect for an older Secretariat was Big Country.....although I have no idea what's happened to him. Is he still in New York?

HeadlessHorseman · Postby **HeadlessHorseman** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 10:51 am

He looks alot like him....

and LOOKS GOOD IN BLUE!!!

HH

Mahubah · Postby **Mahubah** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 12:01 pm

Summer Bird's nice looking but the build's wrong. Secretariat had those very distinctly sloping, powerful quarters and a heavier build than most horses that can stay classic distances; he was also short coupled compared to most TBs. Summer Bird is built more along the traditional lines of the classic runner. He makes me think of Stymie, whose trainer described him as having no bad points and no outstandingly good ones, but everything put together in perfect balance -- probably one reason why Stymie proved such a durable cuss. Anyway, I think Summer Bird's schedule is a little busy right now for a casting call!

Lucy · Postby **Lucy** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 1:53 pm

Last I heard, Big Country was at stud in Trinidad.

oliverstoned · Postby **oliverstoned** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 4:59 pm

Mahubah as soon as you wrote Stymie I suddenly visualized him and said yeah Stymie, so I googled him (been a long time since I've seen a photo of him) and sure enough, spitting image! Spent part of my relaxing Sunday reading about Stymie. Thanks.

Stevie Belmont · Postby **Stevie Belmont** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:19 am

Henny Hughes

Shammy Davis · Postby **Shammy Davis** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 5:14 pm

I know that most on this board don't want to hear this, but I think they'll cast several sorrel QHs for the part. Secretariat was an atypical TB. Even cast with his own full brothers and sisters you'd never know they were related.

Plus, as with most horse related movie productions, they use multiple horses who are trained for different scenes.

I enjoyed the Seabiscuit and Phar Lap movies. I will be excited to see the story of Big Red on the big screen. What might be most interesting is how far back they take the story. Penny Chenery is always considered as the owner of Big Red, but it is her father the late Chris Chenery that the public knows very little about and it was he that made the decisions that brought a wealth of racing talent from VA to tracks of NA. Secretariat was definitely the icing on the cake for this man who dedicated a great portion of his wealth to breeding top quality racehorses. It is ashame that he didn't live to see the his homebred win the Triple Crown.

summerhorse · Postby **summerhorse** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 1:58 pm

They already have their "star" and he's a TB. Forget his name. Think he had a bad case of the slows in his previous life. There are tons of TBs out there where you can immediately recognize Secretariat in their pedigree without reading it even when he's 2-3 generations back. I doubt they had any trouble finding look alikes. Now horses suited to making MOVIES on the other hand...