The Virginia Thoroughbred Association (VTA) will be hosting a screening of the new Disney feature film Secretariat – The Impossible True Story.  Previews for the new movie debuted this weekend including one during Sunday night’s Washington Redskins v. Dallas Cowboys NFL football game broadcast on NBC.

The VTA and a large group of flat and jump racing organizations and other equine-related organizations state-wide are sponsoring “The Virginia Horse Racing Industry Presents Secretariat.”  The event will include a reception followed by a screening of the movie which opens on Friday, October 8 in theatres nationwide.

The movie tells the story of the greatest Thoroughbred racehorse ever produced by the Commonwealth of Virginia – or anywhere else for that matter.  In the early 1970’s, Virginia’s Meadow Stable was in decline and its master – Christopher Chenery – was suffering declining health.  In steps his daughter Helen “Penny” Chenery Tweedy to save the farm and make history by winning the first Triple Crown in twenty-five years.

A woman in what was then a “man’s world,” Tweedy (played by Diane Lane) had to find a trainer in Lucien Lauren (John Malkovich) and eventually syndicate Secretariat prior to his racing in his three-year-old year.  All of this happens after Tweedy loses a coin toss with famous breeder Ogden Phipps who ultimately chose the wrong horse leaving Tweedy’s family with the soon-to-be famous Big Red.

“We hope everybody enjoys the movie and is reminded about all the great equine events, especially flat and steeplechase races, that we have here in Virginia,” said Glenn Petty, Executive Director of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association. “We also hope that the state government which regulates horse racing and breeding here in the Commonwealth will take note of the past history and the future potential of our great industry.”

Virginians have owned and/or raced the winners of more than 15 Triple Crown races over the years (including five in 1972 and 1973 when the Meadow’s Riva Ridge and Secretariat won five out of six Triple Crown races in a span of 13 months).  Currently, one of the best racehorse competing in America is Virginia-bred Quality Road who is a likely favorite for the upcoming $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in late October.

However, funds available to promote Thoroughbred breeding in Virginia created by a portion of each wager placed in Virginia on horse race is now less than $1 million annually while West Virginia and Maryland have over $4 million of competing funds and Pennsylvania offers over $16 million.

“The economy and competition from both inside and outside of Virginia finds horse racing and breeding in beleaguered state,” said Petty. “Unfortunately, over the years a big segment of the Virginia General Assembly has embraced the state’s lottery while being unwilling to support the growth of pari-mutuel wagering which is the economic engine of the horse racing and breeding industries.  For example, the state has 4,900 lottery outlets while pari-mutuel wagering has only ten outlets.  Considering our impact on agribusiness and on the preservation of green space, that doesn’t seem to make much sense.”

At 5:30 pm, a reception will held at Norton’s American Grill on the second floor of the Tysons Corner Center shopping mall in Vienna.  The movie screening will begin at 7:30 pm at the AMC 16 located on the third floor.  Guests attending the screening will be given a baseball cap with the VTA logo on the front and “Breed More Secretariats” on the back.

Joining the VTA in hosting the event is the Virginia Horse Industry Board, Colonial Downs, the Virginia H.B.P.A., the Virginia Breeders Fund, the Virginia Steeplechase Association, the Virginia Racing Commission, the Virginia and International Gold Cups, the Middleburg Races, the Foxfield Races, the Morven Park Races, the Montpelier Races, the Strawberry Hill Races, Great Meadow, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, the Virginia Tourism Corporation, the Secretariat Foundation and the Virginia Horse Center.

The event will also be a good opportunity to do some early Christmas shopping as three books will be available for purchase.  Signed copies of Bill Nack’s Secretariat – The Making of a Champion with a new cover featuring “Secretariat” and actress Diane Lane will be available.  Nack’s book is the basis of the screenplay for the movie and an excellent historic description of this famous series of events and what led up to them.

Penny Chenery’s daughter Kate, has written a new book along with LeeAnne Ladin called Secretariat’s Meadow – The Land, The Family, The Legend, and Ladin will be at the event with signed copies to purchase as well.

Well known steeplechase rider turned trainer, Tom Foley, who played Secretariat’s exercise rider Jimmy Gaffney in the movie, will also be in attendance with his book The Simple Game – An Irish Jockeys Memoir.

To read a review of the movie go to http://www.vtablog.org/2010/08/early-screening-of-secretariat-movie.html