DARK HORSE

(2015)

Directed by Louise Osmond Sport is filled with underdog stories, but here’s a doozy. A barmaid and supermarket worker in a former Welsh mining village convinces two dozen friends and neighbours to join her in a racehorse syndicate. They raise £300 to buy a thoroughbred mare, hire a stallion to do his thing, and Dream Alliance is born, raised on an allotment, put into training, then wins the Welsh Grand National. Dark Horse is not a rags-to-riches story in the strictest sense, because despite the race success, Jan Vokes and her syndicate do not receive material gains. They are altered immeasurably, however, by their realisation that life doesn’t have to be boring and that being part of something bigger than yourself is its own reward. Rocky meets The Full Monty in real-life: who wouldn’t want to see that?