DVD Review - On The Muscle, A Year Inside a Thoroughbred Racing Stable

Training racehorses may look easy to a casual racing fan, but this is far from reality. Pony Highway Productions, in this 3-part documentary, went behind the scenes at Richard Mandella's barn through his 2002 racing season. The fan quickly learns that a lot of hard work, luck, and emotional thrills and heartbreaks go into making a champion. This is a must-see for any racing fan, making you appreciate the horses and the men and women who take care of them so we can enjoy their races.

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California-based trainer Richard Mandella is one of the greats of our sport. In this DVD documentary, we follow Mandella through an entire racing season, as he painstakingly works his charges every day in hopes of taking them to the winner's circle and satisfying his clients. You see some of his training methods, including teaching 2-year-olds to bravely split horses in the stretch, something they wouldn't naturally do. In chronological order, we see such stars as Reddatore, The Tin Man, Ile de France, and champion-to-be Pleasantly Perfect going through the highs and lows of their careers, and see Mandella in the stands cheer on his horse to victory or slump in his seat in frustration when his horse does not run well. We meet the exercise riders and jockeys, grooms, farriers, and vets, all important parts of the team who handle these powerful animals daily and truly care for them like family. Thoroughbreds may be the fastest horses in the world but they are also some of the most fragile. One minor ailment can sideline a horse for weeks. In the DVD, Mandella has Redattore ready to race but after traveling by van to the track, showed up with a 103 degree fever and had to be scratched. But the most extreme example in the movie is Pleasantly Perfect, who was giving Mandella headaches early in his career but would go on to win the Breeders' Cup Classic and Dubai World Cup.