Racehorse film is on right track

IT looked set to be a thoroughbred at the 2020 box office, before the coronavirus lockdown forced it to trot back to the paddock.

But now, more than a year later, the Hollywood film about an award-winning Welsh race horse and the Rhymney Valley community which helped raise him is finally ready for release.

Set to follow in the feelgood footsteps – or hoof prints – of other celebrated Wales-set movies like Miner’s Strike dramedy Pride, Dream Alliance tells of the horse that went on to win the Welsh Grand National.

The rags-to-riches story stars Homeland actor Damian Lewis and Australian actress Toni Collette, along with such homegrown favourites as Line of Duty’s Owen Teale and Casualty’s Di Botcher – all of whom play the Cefn Fforest syndicate who raised the champion steed from obscurity to glory.

The future four-legged champion was bought for £350 in 2000 by local cleaner Jan Vokes, her husband Brian and accountant Howard Davies.

The Alliance Partnership, made up of the trio’s friends from the nearby workingmen’s club, paid just £10 a week each for the horse’s upkeep and training costs throughout his career. However, despite going from humble beginnings to become a sporting sensation, its journey to the top was not without setbacks.

For example, the horse’s career was almost ended when he severed a tendon at Aintree in 2008.

Undergoing stem cell treatment at a cost of £20,000, it still went on to win the feted Coral Welsh Grand National a year later.

Shot on location in south Wales, the film looks like a guaranteed crowd pleaser, while the Welsh accents on display – from Aussie actress Collette, in particular look good to firm. ■ Dream Horse opens at cinemas on Friday, June 4.