Interview: John, Brad Hennegan Project Passion For Ponies in ‘The First Saturday in May’

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CHICAGO – What are you doing the first Saturday in May? Whether the answer is you’re watching the Kentucky Derby on its traditional date or if it’s anything else, the new film “The First Saturday in May” will satisfy both responses.

Barbaro
Barbaro.
Photo credit: Bill Denver at Equi Photo

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.5/5This is a passionate documentary about the behind-the-scenes trainers and workers who push day in and day out for the elusive goal of getting their 2-year-old racehorse in the Kentucky Derby. It’s accessible enough to charm even non-fans while being comprehensive enough for rabid followers of the sport.

Brad Hennegan in Dubai in March 2006
Brad Hennegan in Dubai in March 2006.
Photo credit: Truly Indie

“The First Saturday in May” follows six horses and their training staffs from preliminary races to the big day. Statistics show that only 20 make the derby of 40,000 eligible horses bred per year. The 20 are determined by purse totals in the preliminary races and each training group the filmmakers chose to profile has a shot to make it.

HollywoodChicago.com recently interviewed co-creators John and Brad Hennegan about their passion for the sport of horse racing, the peculiarities of their subjects and the serendipitous timing of profiling the 2006 Kentucky Derby, which is the infamous year of star horse Barbaro and his subsequent injury and death.

“Our father was a racing official for the New York Racing Association for 37 years. His father was involved in racing in Maryland,” said Brad Hennegan while explaining the background of the brothers in the sport.

He added: “We were pretty much born at the racetrack. All of our jobs during the summer were at the racetrack from scooping ice cream to scooping manure. We absolutely loved all the characters we met there.”

John Hennegan added: “While we went to college and got jobs in TV and film, we always stayed close to horse racing as fans. When we both got sick of working for other people, we decided to make our own calling card. We thought doing something about the racetrack would be the best.”

A derby gate break
A derby gate break.
Photo credit: Bill Denver at Equi Photo

Therein lies the Chicago connection in their inspiration for making the film. John added: “We wanted to do this film because of ‘Hoop Dreams,’ which was shot in Chicago.”

The derby field with the twin spires in the background
The derby field with the twin spires in the background.
Photo credit: Bill Denver at Equi Photo

He continued: “It is the ‘Citizen Kane’ of sports documentaries. At the heart of the matter, that was a story about people rather than basketball. We wanted to do the same thing for horse racing. We tried to measure up to that fantastic film.”

Their 99-minute film was edited down from more than 500 hours of footage following the six teams – mostly through the individual trainers – in the months leading up to the derby.

“We wanted to prove why the racetrack was the coolest place you’re not paying attention to,” John related. “We knew it was such a unique place especially to cover for a documentary because the trainers – who are in essence like baseball managers – are just out and about in the crowd.”

From the breezy, buttoned-down essence of Michael Matz (the trainer of Barbaro) to the New York variety frankness of Frank Amonte, each trainer has a story, style and feverish ambition to get to the top rung.

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Each person wrestled with the competition and their own obstacles. Dan Hendricks even trained his horses from a wheelchair after an accident left him paralyzed.

“Dan’s horse was the favorite going into the derby,” Brad said. “To add another level of stress, he had to deal with the press about the injury.”

John added: “Dan is such a great guy. His friends said ‘he has a small stable’. To have a horse make it to that level is amazing. We marveled at the way he handled it all, and even though there were tons of media requests, he didn’t turn down one single person and never complained.”

The race day itself was a perfect culmination to the build up behind the profiles. The atmosphere was captured perfectly, and even though the result is known, the excitement was never diminished.

John Hennegan at Keeneland in April 2006
John Hennegan at Keeneland in April 2006.
Photo credit: Truly Indie

Brad added: “On derby day, we brought in three more cameramen from New York. They were great on getting the atmosphere of this huge event.”

Since it was the year of the Barbaro victory and injury, which lead to his death, John and Brad also participated in the sports story of the year.

“The whole thing was kind of eerie,” John recalled. “Barbaro in the movie was just one of many decent horses profiled. While he was a co-favorite for the Kentucky Derby, he wasn’t a legend. After the derby and after winning by so much, they thought they had the next Secretariat on their hands.”

John added: “The feeling in the air after the injury happened at the Preakness was a public tragedy that was shared and palpable. You could cut the air with a knife. We didn’t know what to do. We were filming for a while and we just put down our cameras. No one knew what to do. It was kind of a blur actually.”

The goal of the filmmakers is not only to promote their favorite sport but to bring more people into the power of it.

“This film is for the neophyte,” Brad said. “We wanted to make it simple and get people interested who are scared of horse racing and think it’s a technical sport. Then you go out there to a track, learn a little more and you see what a great atmosphere it is and how great a sport it can be.”



The exclusive Chicago engagement of “The First Saturday in May” begins on April 18, 2008 at Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema. More dates and venues can be found here. In Barbaro’s memory, 25 percent of the first weekend’s box office total will be donated to the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, which is a worldwide leader in equine research.

HollywoodChicago.com staff writer Patrick McDonald

By PATRICK McDONALD
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2008 Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

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