"First Saturday in May" is a Must-See

Run - don’t walk - to your nearest movie theater offering the brilliant, new documentary, “The First Saturday in May.” Or buy the DVD. If you’re one of us who love racing, it will blow you away. If you know nothing about racing, you’ll quickly discover why the rest of us are so passionate about it.

Brothers John and Brad Hennegan, whose dad was a racing official in New York for some 30 years, have an instant classic documenting the paths of six three-year-old Thoroughbreds striving in 2006 to compete in America’s greatest race, the Kentucky Derby, which is always held on the first Saturday in May.

Besides critical acclaim - “First Saturday in May” was voted by audiences as the third favorite of 180 films at Robert DeNiro’s 2007 Tribecca Film Festival in New York - the movie had sensational openings around the country in late April.

In Saratoga Springs, the Saratoga Film Forum added extra showings because of the demand. After the final presentation, most people in the audience stood up and clapped.

“We’re humbled by people’s responses,” 39-year-old John Hennegan said in a phone interview April 27th. “We want to make racing cool again.” He and his 36-year-old brother are doing exactly that.

Making this story even better is that the Hennegans have committed a percentage of box office receipts, as well as a portion of revenue from DVD sales, to the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. “We thought about Barbaro’s legacy,” Hennegan said. “We wanted to do something.”

Barbaro, the undefeated winner of the 2006 Kentucky Derby who ultimately died from laminitis months after injuring himself in the Preakness Stakes, is one of the six three-year-olds featured in the documentary. The others are Achilles of Troy, Brother Derek, Jazil, Lawyer Ron and Sharp Humor.

The Hennegans did a masterful job of blending the life stories and lifestyles of each horse’s trainer and/or owner without overkill and without disrupting the flow of the film. In doing so, they capture the incredibly diverse nature of starkly different horsemen all pursuing the same objective: standing in the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. “We made it for non-racing fans,” Hennegan said.

They did that without wavering from the sport they know so intimately thanks to their dad’s involvement as a placing judge, patrol judge and clerk of scales. “We spent every summer at Saratoga,” Hennegan said. “We worked there since we were 11-years-old. I walked hots for (Hall of Fame trainer) Leroy Jolley when he had Gulch (one of his top horses). Gulch bit me and left teeth marks on my chest. You have to be careful when you hold a horse.”

Both Hennegans went to college in Virginia, John at the University of Virginia and Paul at Roanoke College, where he played lacrosse. The brothers held a variety of television jobs before deciding to do “The First Saturday in May.” “We got sick of working for other people,” Hennegan said. “We wanted to do something on our own. We saw Funny Cide and Smarty Jones (both won the Derby and Preakness before losing in the Belmont Stakes in 2003 and 2004) and we started working on this in 2005.”

That year, Giacomo won the Derby at 50-1 before Afleet Alex, who was third in the Derby, won both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

In 2006, the Hennegans chose 12 three-year-olds to follow before narrowing the dozen to six. They couldn’t have chosen more wisely as the half-dozen horses had varying success leading up to the Derby, in the Derby and afterwards.

Heading into the Derby, Brother Derek dominated his competition in California, as did Lawyer Ron in Arkansas and Barbaro in Florida. Jazil, who prepped for the Derby in New York, would finish in a dead-heat for fourth with Brother Derek in the Derby, then win the Belmont Stakes. Sharp Humor was off the board in the Derby, while Achilles of Troy never made the Derby because of an injury.

Their stories will make you laugh, cry, cheer and, most important of all, understand and appreciate what it takes and what it means to enter that Churchill Downs starting gate on the first Saturday in May.