Most all those who are familiar with horse racing in America have seen the movie “Seabiscuit” and many of us who love horse racing are really looking forward to going to theaters in October to see the new release of “Secretariat”. There are several other classics about horse racing or have scenes from the race track that have been enjoyable over the years.
But for my money, there has been no movie about horse racing that was funnier or more entertaining than Jay Trotter’s day at the track in the 1989 film “Let It Ride”.
Most of the scenes are filmed in Hialeah Race Track in Florida, which was later closed in 2001 and reopened on November 28, 2009. The casting was wonderful with Richard Dryfuss, David Johansen, Jennifer Tilly and the incomparable Teri Garr.
If you’ve always dreamed about one day at the track when everything goes your way, you’ll love this performance. Great horse racing dialog and some great lines like, “I’m having a very good day!” And, my favorite, when Tilly’s character makes the statement, “You know, there’s a fine line between winning and losing”. And Trotter (Dryfuss) quickly retorts, “Yea, the finish line”.
If you can’t find it in your local movie rental store, you can get it through Netflix for sure or better yet, order it through Amazon.com so you can view it every year or so. I’ll bet a sawbuck it will become one of your top ten favorites.
