Dark Horse

Name: Dark Horse
Released: 2016-5-6
Cast: Jan Vokes

Dark Horse

PG
1h 26m
2016

96%

age 9+

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Set in Wales, Dark Horse is the inspirational true story of a group of friends who decide to take on the elite ‘sport of kings’ and breed themselves a racehorse. Raised on a slagheap allotment, their foal grows into an unlikely champion, beating the finest thoroughbreds in the land, before suffering a near fatal accident. Nursed back to health by the love of his owners, he makes a remarkable recovery, returning to the track for a heart-stopping comeback.

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Rotten Tomatoes® Score

TOMATOMETER®

96%

Critics Consensus: Dark Horse offers a thoroughly crowd-pleasing look at an incredible -- and inspirational -- real-life story that will thrill equine enthusiasts and novices alike.

Reviews

Richard Crouse

It's a fable of empowerment, of beating the odds, but Osmond's deft hand ensures it never feels manipulative.

Using video footage, old photos, reenactments and interviews with the spunky local inhabitants, Osmond reconstructs a story of a willful, competitive animal who could and did, and the town that loved her for it.

Director Louise Osmond deftly employs a real-life cast of mostly working-class Welsh men and women describing how a most unlikely horse entered and upended their lives for a spell in a marvelous Cinderella story.

The picture is as textbook an underdog story as anything to have come out of Hollywood, and yet it's the sincerity of the principles who tell the story that make it so uniquely compelling.

April 4, 2019

FULL REVIEW

Bowling Green Daily News

Micheal Compton

Racing fans will find "Dark Horse" a delight, but the human story is equally as enticing for non-sports fans.

January 15, 2019

FULL REVIEW

Common Sense Media

age 9+

Common Sense Says

Stirring, inspiring docu about unlikely champion.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Dark Horse is a Welsh documentary that tells the inspiring story of a group of mostly poor mineworkers who pooled 10 pounds per week to successfully breed, train, and race a thoroughbred horse, inserting themselves into a realm ordinarily reserved for the wealthy and titled. Adults are seen drinking alcohol in many pub scenes, and a few scenes could be upsetting to sensitive animal lovers -- horses and jockeys fall during races, and there's discussion of putting injured animals down. But ultimately this is a celebration of perseverance and the triumph of the underdog.