Plot
Accused of throwing races back home, American jockey Danny Arnold now rides horses in Italy, where a gangster named Bork insists he deliberately lose a race. Dan double-crosses him, then avoids Bork's thugs, taking young son Joe with him to Paris.
Intending to look up an old friend, Dan learns from cafe owner Paule Manet that the friend was murdered by criminals due to unpaid debts. British jockey George Gardner is able to find Dan gainful employment at the racetrack, while Joe persuades his dad that a new horse of theirs called Gilford would make a fine steeplechase racer. Dan disappoints his son by winning money on a fixed race that involved George.
Bork and his henchmen turn up. They threaten to kill Dan if he doesn't lose the next steeplechase race. They have their own jockey in the race to make sure things go their way, but Dan defies them, with George's help. He wins the race, but when another horse runs into Gilford at the finish line, Dan is thrown off and killed.
Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in the UK and steeplechasing in the US. Jump racing can be further divided into hurdling and steeplechasing.
Frederick James Archer, also known by the nickname The Tin Man, was an English flat race jockey of the Victorian era, described as "the best all-round jockey that the turf has ever seen".
Micheline Presle is a French actress. She was sometimes billed as Micheline Prelle. Starting in 1939, she starred in over 50 French and English language films that were made in Hollywood and in France.
George Herbert "Pete" Bostwick was an American court tennis player, a steeplechase jockey and horse trainer, and an eight-goal polo player.
Joseph Early Widener was a wealthy American art collector who was a founding benefactor of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. A major figure in thoroughbred horse racing, he was head of New York's Belmont Park and builder of Miami's Hialeah Park racetrack in Florida.
Crisp was a champion steeplechase horse. He was a bay Thoroughbred gelding that was foaled in 1963 in Australia. In his native country, he won many important jumping races, particularly two-milers, including the Hiskens Steeplechase in 1969 and 1970. So well did he jump, he was nicknamed "The Black Kangaroo". However, Crisp is probably best remembered for his epic contest with Red Rum in the 1973 Grand National in England.
Boots Malone is a 1952 American drama film directed by William Dieterle. It stars William Holden as a down-on-his-luck sports agent and Johnny Stewart as a rich runaway who wants to become a jockey.
Martin William Becher was a former soldier and steeplechase jockey in whose memory the Becher's Brook obstacle at Aintree Racecourse is named.
My Old Man is a 1979 American made-for-television drama film starring Kristy McNichol, Warren Oates and Eileen Brennan, directed by John Erman. The film, written by Jerome Kass, was based on the Ernest Hemingway 1923 short story "My Old Man", which had previously been adapted for the 1950 film Under My Skin. The TV film was originally broadcast on CBS on December 7, 1979.
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, journalist, and sportsman. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction. Many of his works are considered classics of American literature.
Joe Cotton was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that is best known as the winner of the 1885 Kentucky Derby. He was sired by King Alfonso who also sired the 1880 Derby winner Fonso. The horse was reportedly named after a bookie.
Clyde Van Dusen (1926–1948) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and the winner of the 1929 Kentucky Derby.
Donau (1907–1913) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and was the winner of the 1910 Kentucky Derby. Donau was known for his often temperamental and difficult personality, which led to him being gelded at the end of 1910. Donau started in 111 races over his three-year flat racing career and was in the process of being retrained for steeplechasing when he died at the age of six years in February 1913 at the Nashville farm of his owner William Gerst of the William Gerst Brewing Company.
Le Diable et les Dix Commandements is a French film from 1962 directed by Julien Duvivier that consists of seven sketches played by an ensemble cast that includes Michel Simon, Micheline Presle, Françoise Arnoul, Mel Ferrer, Charles Aznavour, Lino Ventura, Fernandel, Alain Delon, Danielle Darrieux, Jean-Claude Brialy, and Louis de Funès.
The 2012 Grand National was the 165th annual renewal of the Grand National horse race at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England. The showpiece steeplechase, which concluded a three-day meeting which is one of only four held at Aintree throughout the year, took place on 14 April 2012. The maximum permitted field of 40 runners ran the last 4 miles 856 yards (7.220 km) of Aintree's National Course featuring 30 fences, competing for record prize money of £975,000, making it the highest-valued National Hunt race in the United Kingdom.
The 1937 Grand National was the 96th running of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 19 March 1937. The estimated crowd of 300,000 is believed by the Aintree executive to be a record for the race, though only those who watched from the racecourse proper were charged admission.
Spaniel (1828–1833) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. In a career that lasted from July 1830 to early 1833 he ran eighteen times and won nine races. After an unsuccessful season as a two-year-old he made significant improvement in 1831 to win his first three races, culminating in The Derby. Spaniel failed to win again for over a year but then recovered to win five races on Welsh racecourses in 1832. He died after being injured on his first start as a five-year-old in 1833.
That's My Man is a 1947 American drama film directed by Frank Borzage, written by Steve Fisher and Bradley King, and starring Don Ameche, Catherine McLeod, Roscoe Karns, John Ridgely, Kitty Irish and Joe Frisco. It was released on June 1, 1947, by Republic Pictures.
"My Old Man" is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway, published in his 1923 book Three Stories and Ten Poems, which published by a small Paris imprint. The story was also included in his next collection of stories, In Our Time, published in New York in 1925 by Boni & Liveright. The story tells of a boy named Joe whose father is a steeplechase jockey, and is narrated from Joe's point-of-view.
Grenada was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He won the 1880 Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, and Travers Stakes. He is one of only seven horses to have won these three races.
